The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? Second Edition (American Politics and Political Economy Series) - Hardcover

Rosenberg, Gerald N.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226726703 ISBN 13: 9780226726700

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2008

Synopsis

In follow-up studies, dozens of reviews, and even a book of essays evaluating his conclusions, Gerald Rosenberg’s critics—not to mention his supporters—have spent nearly two decades debating the arguments he first put forward in The Hollow Hope. With this substantially expanded second edition of his landmark work, Rosenberg himself steps back into the fray, responding to criticism and adding chapters on the same-sex marriage battle that ask anew whether courts can spur political and social reform.
            Finding that the answer is still a resounding no, Rosenberg reaffirms his powerful contention that it’s nearly impossible to generate significant reforms through litigation. The reason? American courts are ineffective and relatively weak—far from the uniquely powerful sources for change they’re often portrayed as. Rosenberg supports this claim by documenting the direct and secondary effects of key court decisions—particularly Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. He reveals, for example, that Congress, the White House, and a determined civil rights movement did far more than Brown to advance desegregation, while pro-choice activists invested too much in Roe at the expense of political mobilization. Further illuminating these cases, as well as the ongoing fight for same-sex marriage rights, Rosenberg also marshals impressive evidence to overturn the common assumption that even unsuccessful litigation can advance a cause by raising its profile.
            Directly addressing its critics in a new conclusion, The Hollow Hope, Second Edition promises to reignite for a new generation the national debate it sparked seventeen years ago.

About this title

About the Author:

Gerald Rosenberg is associate professor of political science and lecturer of law at the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Washington, D.C., bar.

Review:

On the first edition "A carefully and thoroughly executed study. . . . The Hollow Hope is absolutely 'must' reading." (Lee Epstein Law and Politics Book Review)

“Rosenberg argues with considerable subtlety and power and no little persuasiveness that the promise of Supreme Court action has been chimerical. In his view, Justices are, at best, the Rosencrantzes and Guildensterns of the larger American social drama, and the lawyers pleading their cases have mostly been wasting their thespian talents.” (David L. Kirp Nation)

On First Edition: "The real strength of The Hollow Hope . . . is its resuscitation of American Politics—the old-fashioned representative kind—as a valid instrument of social change. Indeed, the flip side of Mr. Rosenberg's argument that courts don't do all that much is the refreshing view that politics in the best sense of the word—as deliberation and choice over economic and social changes, as well as over moral issues—is still the core of what makes America the great nation it is. . . . A book worth reading." (Gary L. McDowell Washington Times)

"The second edition . . . is to be commended for what it is and what it does well. This book will remain a valuable resource for those studying roles that courts have played and may contuinue to play at the intersections of law and politics. The new chapters are informative and thouhgt provoking." (Wayne D. Moore Law and Politics Book Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0226726703
• ISBN 13: 9780226726700
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 525