Only Judgment: The Limits of Litigation in Social Change - Hardcover

Neier, Aryeh

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0819550795 ISBN 13: 9780819550798

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press, 1982

Synopsis

Is litigation an appropriate, effective way to promote social change? What criteria should we use to distinguish among causes, and is there a sound basis in law for making distinctions? In Only Judgment, Aryeh Neier examines how the role of litigation and the public interest bar has changed since Brown v. Board of Education, the impact of litigation in advancing causes, as well as its impact on the movements espousing those causes. Suggesting that in the US, public interest litigation can be a double-edged sword, Only Judgment explores both the possibilities and the limits of litigation as a way to advance interests. Neier s writing gets at the heart of how groups and movements gain, or fail to gain, access to political power.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

IDEBATE Press is proud to reissue this classic work on public interest litigation with a new foreword by the author.

Is litigation an appropriate, effective way to promote social change? What criteria should we use to distinguish among causes, and is there a sound basis in law for making distinctions? In Only Judgment, Aryeh Neier examines how the role of litigation and the public interest bar has changed since Brown v. Board of Education, the impact of litigation in advancing causes, as well as its impact on the movements espousing those causes. Suggesting that in the United States, public interest litigation can be a double-edged sword, Only Judgment explores both the possibilities and the limits of litigation as a way to advance interests. Neier's writing gets at the heart of how groups and movements gain, or fail to gain, access to political power.

Topics include:

Making Pluralism Work

Thoughts on Legitimacy

Racial Equality

Political Equality

Sexual Equality

Abortion

Ending Poverty

Challenging War

Challenging the National Security State

Reforming Asylums

Stopping Executions without Abolishing Capital Punishment

Protecting the Environment

About the Author:

Aryeh Neier is president of the Open Society Foundations. Prior to joining the Open Society Foundations in 1993, he was executive director of Human Rights Watch, of which he was a founder. Before that, he worked at the American Civil Liberties Union, including national executive director from 1970 to 1978.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Publication date: 1982
• ISBN 10: 0819550795
• ISBN 13: 9780819550798
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 290