Responding to imperfection : the theory and practice of constitutional amendment / Sanford Levinson, editor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Levinson, Sanford, 1941-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional amendments--United States.

Constitutional amendments.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (341 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

An increasing number of constitutional theorists, within both the legal academy and university departments of government, are focusing on the conceptual and political problems attached to the notion of constitutional amendment. Amendments are, among other things, recognitions of the imperfection of existing schemes of government. The relative ease or difficulty of amendment has significant implications for the ways that governments respond to problems that call either for new structures of governance or new powers for already established structures. This book brings together essays by leading legal authorities and political scientists on a range of questions from whether the U.S. Constitution is subject to amendment by procedures other than those authorized by Article V to how significant change is conceptualized within classical rabbinic Judaism. Though the essays are concerned for the most part with the American experience, other constitutional traditions are considered as well. The contributors include Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Reed Amar, Mark E. Brandon, David R. Dow, Stephen M. Griffin, Stephen Holmes and Cass R. Sunstein, Sanford Levinson, Donald Lutz, Walter Murphy, Frederick Schauer, John R. Vile, and Noam J. Zohar.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

One. Introduction: Imperfection and Amendability / Levinson, Sanford

Two. How Many Times Has the United States Constitution Been Amended? (A) < 26; (B) 26; (C) 27; (D) > 27: Accounting for Constitutional Change / Levinson, Sanford

Three. Constitutionalism in the United States: From Theory to Politics / Griffin, Stephen M.

Four. Higher Lawmaking / Ackerman, Bruce

Five. Popular Sovereignty and Constitutional Amendment / Reed Amar, Akhil

Six. The Plain Meaning of Article V / Dow, David R.

Seven. Amending the Presuppositions of a Constitution / Schauer, Frederick

Eight. Merlin's Memory: The Past and Future Imperfect of the Once and Future Polity / Murphy, Walter F.

Nine. The Case against Implicit Limits on the Constitutional Amending Process / Vile, John R.

Ten. The "Original" Thirteenth Amendment and the Limits to Formal Constitutional Change / Brandon, Mark E.

Eleven. Toward a Theory of Constitutional Amendment / Lutz, Donald S.

Twelve. The Politics of Constitutional Revision in Eastern Europe / Holmes, Stephen / Sunstein, Cass R.

Thirteen. Midrash: Amendment through the Molding of Meaning / Zohar, Noam J.

Appendix: Amending Provisions of Selected New Constitutions in Eastern Europe

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612752193

9781400804900

1400804906

9781400821631

1400821630

9781282752191

1282752197

9781400812523

1400812526

OCLC:

705526988