1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910451159003321

Autore

Nagel Robert F

Titolo

Judicial power and American character [[electronic resource] ] : censoring ourselves in an anxious age / / Robert F. Nagel

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Oxford University Press, 1994

ISBN

1-280-56111-4

9786610561117

0-19-535841-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (199 p.)

Disciplina

347.73/12

347.30712

Soggetti

Constitutional law - Moral and ethical aspects - United States

Judicial power - United States

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; 1. Introduction: The Court as Cultural Barometer; 2. Watching Ourselves: The Thomas Hearings and National Character; Inequality as Equality; Offensiveness as Virtue; Careerism and Sexual Equality; Careerism and Responsibility; Moralism and Opportunism; 3. Shaping Law: Elitism and Democracy in the Bork Hearings; Bork against the Mainstream; Bork as the Mainstream; Meeting the Enemy; 4. Marching on Constitution Avenue: Public Protest and the Court; Judges as Politicians; Marching and Advocacy; Legalism, Realism, and Edwin Meese's Heresy

5. Speaking before All Others: Interpretation as the Suppression of DisagreementThe Rule of Law; Legal Traditions and Constitutional Rights; Political Resistance and the Expansion of Rights; 6. Pursuing Visions: Interpretation as Moral Evasion; Sexual Speech and Moral Climate; Flag Burning and Political Ethos; Boundlessness and Adjudication; 7. Correcting the Political: Interpretation as Mind Control; Regulating Sexist Speech; The Court and Consciousness Raising; Mind Control and Censorship; 8. Arguing with Enemies: Interpretation as Invective; Name-Calling in the Courts



Judicial Restraint and Moral HeroismThe Ideal of Moderation in a Divided Society; Restraint and the Judicial Machine; 9. Censoring Ourselves; Principle Ascendant; Principle,""Progress,"" and the Tradition of the Family; Principle as Suppression; Principle and Cultural Decline; Notes; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z

Sommario/riassunto

This book examines judicial power as an integral part of our increasingly anxious and intolerant society. Nagel shows how constitutional politics embodies cultural tendencies toward moral evasiveness, privatization, and opportunism, and that judicial decisions often censor important beliefs and traditions. Ranging widely over topics such as Clarence Thomas' confirmation, abortion, flag-burning, and gay rights, the analysis crosses conventional political and philosophical lines to conclude that the real protection for legal values lies in robust politics.