Red, white, and blue : a critical analysis of constitutional law / Mark Tushnet ; with a new foreword by Sanford Levinson ; and a new afterword by the author.

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2015]

KF4575 .T87 2015

First paperback edition.

9780700621026 (paperback)
0700621024 (paperback)
9780700621033 (ebook)
0700621032 (ebook)

xviii, 357 pages ; 24 cm.

(OCoLC)895730898

"The first paperback edition of a classic of American constitutional theory. The book is divided into two parts. In Part I Professor Tushnet appraises the five major competing "grand theories" of constitutional law and interpretation, and, argues that none of them satisfy their own requirements for coherence and judicial constraint. In Part II the author offers a descriptive sociology of constitutional doctrine and raises critical questions as to whether a grand theory is necessary, is it possible to construct a coherent, useful grand theory, and is construction of an uncontroversial grand theory possible? Professor Tushnet's new Afterword is organized in parallel fashion to the original text. Part I offers a new survey of the contemporary terrain of constitutional interpretation. Part II provides an extended discussion of the most prominent of contemporary efforts to provide an external analysis of constitutional law, the idea of regime politics. This includes discussion of major court decisions, including Bush v. Gore and Citizens United"-- Provided by publisher.
"The power of the Supreme Court to rule actions of Congress, the President, or the states unconstitutional is seemingly an undemocratic aspect of our system. The rationale for this power and how it should be exercised by the Court has produced over our history a series of debates and theories of constitutional law, the most recent being the on-going controversy over originalism. In this book Mark Tushnet critiques the grand theories of constitutional law, arguing that they all fail to explain the Constitution or guide the Court in its application across the wide range of cases it deals with, creating a firestorm of critical commentary. This new edition includes a foreword by Sandy Levinson and an afterword by the author to this book that was published by Harvard in 1988"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Purchased from the income of the Fisch Fund