The Supreme Court and the Decline of Constitutional Aspiration

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Rowman & Littlefield, 1986 - Law - 192 pages
How should the U.S. Constitution be interpreted, and upon what philosophical basis? What were the intentions of its framers concerning judicial interpretation? the doctrine of natural rights? the finality of Supreme Court decisions? To what extent are these intentions relevant to modern politics and jurisprudence? These and other issues are given a balanced and fresh treatment in Professor Jacobsohn's timely study.

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Contents

Introduction
1
Legal Science Revisited and Reinterpreted Roscoe Pound and the Jurisprudence of the Founders
12
I Law Politics and the Scientific Age
14
Beyond the Pursuit of Happiness
16
III What Is God Doing Now?
23
IV From Rights to Interests
25
V Of Juries and Jurisprudence
29
VI Conclusion
33
I Justice Constitutionality and James Wilson
75
II Revolution Judicial Review and James Otis
80
III The Supreme Court and the First Principles of Fundamental Law
86
IV Conclusion
92
Abraham Lincoln On This Question of Judicial Authority The Theory of Constitutional Aspiration
95
I The Denial of Unqualified Finality
96
II The Apple of Gold and the Picture of Silver
100
III Constitutional Aspiration
107

Modern Jurisprudence and the Transvaluation of Liberal Constitutionalism
37
I Constitutional Theory and the CounterMajoritarian Premise
38
II Moral Theory and the Constitutional Determination of Rights
44
III Conclusion
54
Hamilton Positivism and the Constitution Judicial Discretion Reconsidered
57
I The Rule of Law
58
II Neither Force nor Will
60
III The Spirit of the Constitution
65
IV The Sciences of Morals and Politics
69
V Conclusion
72
Making Sense of the Unwritten Constitution
74
IV Conclusion
111
Constitutional Theory and the Dilemma of Judicial Finality
113
I Perspectives on Judicial Finality
114
Congress and the Court
129
III Conclusion
136
Conclusion To Seize the Permanent
138
Notes
147
Bibliography
169
Index
177
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