Why We Vote (Inalienable Rights)

In Why We Vote, renowned legal scholar Owen Fiss offers a bold and daring reconstruction of judicial doctrine that underscores the US Constitution's commitment to the expansion of democracy. Each chapter points to landmark Supreme Court decisions that have either enhanced the citizens' enjoyment of the right to vote or guaranteed feasible access to the ballot for independent candidates and new political parties. Fiss also shifts the focus from equal protection of the laws to the freedom that democracy generates--the right of those who are ruled to choose their rulers.

Owen Fiss is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale University. He clerked for Thurgood Marshall when he served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and later for William J. Brennan, Jr. on the Supreme Court. Fiss also served in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice from 1966 to 1968. He is the author of many books, including The Law As It Could Be, The Irony of Free Speech, and Pillars of Justice. In 2020, the American Philosophical Society awarded Fiss the Henry M. Phillips Prize for his lifetime achievement in jurisprudence.