Justice in Plainclothes: A Theory of American Constitutional Practice
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. First edition. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. xi, [1], 248, [10] p. Notes. Index. In this important book, Lawrence Sager, a leading constitutional theorist, offers a lucid understanding and compelling defence of American constitutional practice. Sager treats judges as active partners in the enterprise of securing the fundamentals of political justice, and sees the process of constitutional adjudication as a promising and distinctly democratic addition to that enterprise. But his embrace of the constitutional judiciary is not unqualified. Judges in Sager's view should and do stop short of enforcing the whole of the Constitution; and the Supreme Court should welcome rather than condemn the efforts of Congress to pick up the slack. Among the surprising fruit of this justice-seeking account of American constitutional practice are a persuasive case for the constitutional right to secure a materially decent life and sympathy for the obduracy of the Constitution to amendment. No book can end debate in this conceptually tumultuous area; but Justice in Plainclothes is likely to help shape the ongoing debate for years to come. From Wikipedia: "Lawrence Gene Sager (born 1941) is a former dean of the The University of Texas School of Law at The University of Texas at Austin. He currently holds the Alice Jane Drysdale Sheffield Regents Chair and is one of the nation's preeminent constitutional theorists and scholars. Sager, who joined the Law School faculty in 2002, is the 13th dean in the Law School's 123-year history. He is best known for his theory of underenforcement. A graduate of Columbia Law School and Pomona College, Sager taught for more than 25 years at New York University School of Law, where he was instrumental in transforming the NYU faculty into one of the very best in the nation. At Texas, he has also been deeply involved with the Law School's successful faculty recruitment efforts, which include luring corporate law expert Bernard Black from Stanford Law School in 2004 and health law scholar William Sage from Columbia Law School this year. He served as chair of the Law School's Appointments Committee during the 2005 06 academic year. Sager has also taught as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, Princeton University, Boston University School of Law, UCLA School of Law, and University of Michigan Law School. Sager is the author or co-author of dozens of articles, many now classics in the canon of legal scholarship, as well as two books: Justice in Plainclothes: A Theory of American Constitutional Practice (Yale University Press, 2004) and, with Christopher Eisgruber, Religious Freedom and the Constitution, (Harvard University Press, 2007)." Condition: Very good in very good dust jacket. Signed by author. DJ has some soiling.
Keywords: Bill of Rights, Democracy, Discrimination, Due Process, Fourteenth Amendment, Equal Protection, Judges, Liberty, Originiallism, Racism, Supreme Court, Underenforcement, John Hart Ely, Robert Bork, Larry Lessig, Sexual Orientation
ISBN: 9780300101300
[Book #67171]
Price: $45.00