Keeping Faith with the Constitution

✍ Scribed by Goodwin Liu, Pamela S. Karlan, Christopher H. Schroeder

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 273
• Series: Inalienable Rights
• Edition: First
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Chief Justice John Marshall argued that a constitution "requires that only its great outlines should be marked [and] its important objects designated." Ours is "intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs." In recent years, Marshall's great truths have been challenged by proponents of originalism and strict construction. Such legal thinkers as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argue that the Constitution must be construed and applied as it was when the Framers wrote it.In Keeping Faith with the Constitution, three legal authorities make the case for Marshall's vision. They describe their approach as "constitutional fidelity"--not to how the Framers would have applied the Constitution, but to the text and principles of the Constitution itself. The original understanding of the text is one source of interpretation, but not the only one; to preserve the meaning and authority of the document, to keep it vital, applications of the Constitution must be shaped by precedent, historical experience, practical consequence, and societal change. The authors range across the history of constitutional interpretation to show how this approach has been the source of our greatest advances, from Brown v. Board of Education to the New Deal, from the Miranda decision to the expansion of women's rights. They delve into the complexities of voting rights, the malapportionment of legislative districts, speech freedoms, civil liberties and the War on Terror, and the evolution of checks and balances. The Constitution's framers could never have imagined DNA, global warming, or even women's equality. Yet these and many more realities shape our lives and outlook. Our Constitution will remain vital into our changing future, the authors write, if judges remain true to this rich tradition of adaptation and fidelity.

✦ Table of Contents

CONTENTS......Page 8
EDITOR’S NOTE......Page 12
INTRODUCTION......Page 16
CHAPTER ONE: THE CONSTITUTION’S VISION AND VALUES......Page 26
CHAPTER TWO: JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION......Page 48
CHAPTER THREE: EQUALITY......Page 78
CHAPTER FOUR: FREEDOM OF SPEECH......Page 100
CHAPTER FIVE: PROMOTING THE GENERAL WELFARE......Page 120
CHAPTER SIX: SEPARATION OF POWERS......Page 132
CHAPTER SEVEN: DEMOCRACY......Page 144
CHAPTER EIGHT: CRIMINAL JUSTICE......Page 154
CHAPTER NINE: LIBERTY......Page 162
CHAPTER TEN: PROGRESS AND POSSIBILITIES......Page 176
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES......Page 182
NOTES......Page 216
B......Page 263
C......Page 264
E......Page 265
F......Page 266
G......Page 267
L......Page 268
N......Page 269
R......Page 270
S......Page 271
T......Page 272
Z......Page 273