The age of deference : the Supreme Court, national security, and the constitutional order / David Rudenstine.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rudenstine, David, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Supreme Court--Decision making.

United States.

United States. Supreme Court.

National security--Law and legislation--United States.

National security.

National security--Law and legislation.

Decision making.

Judicial process--United States.

Judicial process.

Military law--United States.

Military law.

War and emergency powers--United States.

War and emergency powers.

Political questions and judicial power--United States.

Political questions and judicial power.

Physical Description:

xvi, 326 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016]

Summary:

"In October 1948-one year after the creation of the U.S. Air Force as a separate military branch-a B-29 Superfortress crashed on a test run, killing the plane's crew. The plane was constructed with poor materials, and the families of the dead sued the U.S. government for damages. In the case, the government claimed that releasing information relating to the crash would reveal important state secrets, and refused to hand over the requested documents. Judges at both the U.S. District Court level and Circuit level rejected the government's argument and ruled in favor of the families. However, in 1953, the Supreme Court reversed the lower courts' decisions and ruled that in the realm of national security, the executive branch had a right to withhold information from the public. Judicial deference to the executive on national security matters has increased ever since the issuance of that landmark decision. Today, the government's ability to invoke state secrets privileges goes unquestioned by a largely supine judicial branch. David Rudenstine's The Age of Deference traces the Court's role in the rise of judicial deference to executive power since the end of World War II. He shows how in case after case, going back to the Truman and Eisenhower presidencies, the Court has ceded authority in national security matters to the executive branch. Since 9/11, the executive faces even less oversight. According to Rudenstine, this has had a negative impact both on individual rights and on our ability to check executive authority when necessary. Judges are mindful of the limits of their competence in national security matters; this, combined with their insulation from political accountability, has caused them in matters as important as the nation's security to defer to the executive. Judges are also afraid of being responsible for a decision that puts the nation at risk and the consequences for the judiciary in the wake of such a decision. Nonetheless, The Age of Deference argues that as important as these considerations are in shaping a judicial disposition, the Supreme Court has leaned too far, too often, and for too long in the direction of abdication. There is a broad spectrum separating judicial abdication, at one end, from judicial usurpation, at the other, and The Age of Deference argues that the rule of law compels the court to re-define its perspective and the legal doctrines central to the Age."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part one. From isolationism to globalism

The republic is askew

The ingrained narrative

A second look

Breaking ranks

Part two. Judicial secrecy

Looking through a keyhole

The evidence is secret

The law is secret

The court is secret

Secret court shoots foot

Part three. Judicial deference

NSA surveillance : the injury is speculative

Rights without remedies

Still more obstacles close the courthouse door

Guantanamo : the Supreme Court blinks

Part four. Between abdication and usurpation

The consequences of deference

The mind of deference

Be last, not first.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Rudenstine, David. Age of deference

ISBN:

9780199381487

0199381488

OCLC:

921864461