Against obligation : the multiple sources of authority in a liberal democracy / Abner S. Greene.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greene, Abner, 1960-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional law--United States.

Constitutional law.

Effectiveness and validity of law.

Law--Moral and ethical aspects.

Law.

Obedience (Law).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (346 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Do citizens of a nation such as the United States have a moral duty to obey the law? Do officials, when interpreting the Constitution, have an obligation to follow what that text meant when ratified? To follow precedent? To follow what the Supreme Court today says the Constitution means?These are questions of political obligation (for citizens) and interpretive obligation (for anyone interpreting the Constitution, often officials). Abner Greene argues that such obligations do not exist. Although citizens should obey some laws entirely, and other laws in some instances, no one has put forth a successful argument that citizens should obey all laws all the time. Greene's case is not only "against" obligation. It is also "for" an approach he calls "permeable sovereignty": all of our norms are on equal footing with the state's laws. Accordingly, the state should accommodate religious, philosophical, family, or tribal norms whenever possible.Greene shows that questions of interpretive obligation share many qualities with those of political obligation. In rejecting the view that constitutional interpreters must follow either prior or higher sources of constitutional meaning, Greene confronts and turns aside arguments similar to those offered for a moral duty of citizens to obey the law.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. AGAINST POLITICAL OBLIGATION

2. ACCOMMODATING OUR PLURAL OBLIGATIONS

3. AGAINST INTERPRETIVE OBLIGATION TO THE PAST

4. AGAINST INTERPRETIVE OBLIGATION TO THE SUPREME COURT

CONCLUSION

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p.303-321) and index.

ISBN:

9780674065178

0674065174

9780674069398

0674069390

OCLC:

794004242