A Constitution for All Times (Boston Review Books) - Hardcover

Karlan, Kenneth And Harle Montgomery Professor Of Public Interest Law Pamela S

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262019892 ISBN 13: 9780262019897

Publisher: MIT Press, 2013

Synopsis

A prominent lawyer and legal scholar describes her vision of an evolving Constitution, examining current legal issues that range from health care to gun control.

Pamela S. Karlan is a unique figure in American law. A professor at Stanford Law School and former counsel for the NAACP, she has argued seven cases at the Supreme Court and worked on dozens more as a clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun. In her first book written for a general audience, she examines what happens in American courtrooms―especially the Supreme Court―and what it means for our everyday lives and to our national commitments to democracy, justice, and fairness.

Through an exploration of current hot-button legal issues―from voting rights to the death penalty, health care, same-sex marriage, invasive high-tech searches, and gun control―Karlan makes a sophisticated and resonant case for her vision of the Constitution. At the heart of that vision is the conviction that the Constitution is an evolving document that enables government to solve novel problems and expand the sphere of human freedom. As skeptics charge congressional overreach on such issues as the Affordable Care Act and even voting rights, Karlan pushes back. On individual rights in particular, she believes the Constitution allows Congress to enforce the substance of its amendments. And she calls out the Roberts Court for its disdain for the other branches of government and for its alignment with a conservative agenda.

About this title

About the Author:

Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law at Stanford Law School, cofounded the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, through which students litigate live cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

From Booklist:

Our nation’s polarizing politics play out in vehement debates about how the Constitution is to be interpreted. Strict constructionists (including Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia), with their emphasis on the document as written by the framers, square off against those who believe in an evolving process of interpretation more relevant to modern times. Legal scholar Karlan, former clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun and former NAACP counsel, explores the political tensions behind interpretations of the Constitution as well as the complex relationship between the Supreme Court and the democratic process. The court’s decisions on crucial issues, from political fund-raising to voter registration, impact elections that in turn impact the selection of future Supreme Court members, making debate about the Constitution more than academic. She sharply focuses on the intersection of politics and Supreme Court decisions and controversial issues from capital punishment to same-sex marriage to gun control. Karlan ends with a plea for greater attention to the meaning of the Constitution to ordinary citizens. This is a highly informative and accessible look at our nation’s governing document. --Vanessa Bush

About this edition

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0262019892
• ISBN 13: 9780262019897
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208