Judicial power and American character : censoring ourselves in an anxious age / Robert F. Nagel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nagel, Robert F., author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Judicial power--United States.

Judicial power.

United States--Constitutional law--Moral and ethical aspects.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (199 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York ; Oxford University Press, 2023.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This work examines judicial power as an integral part of America's increasingly anxious and intolerant society. Nagel argues that judicial decisions are often an effort to stifle disagreement and to censor important beliefs and important traditions. Covering controversial topics, the analysis crosses conventional political and philosophic lines.

Contents:

Contents; 1. Introduction: The Court as Cultural Barometer; 2. Watching Ourselves: The Thomas Hearings and National Character; Inequality as Equality; Offensiveness as Virtue; Careerism and Sexual Equality; Careerism and Responsibility; Moralism and Opportunism; 3. Shaping Law: Elitism and Democracy in the Bork Hearings; Bork against the Mainstream; Bork as the Mainstream; Meeting the Enemy; 4. Marching on Constitution Avenue: Public Protest and the Court; Judges as Politicians; Marching and Advocacy; Legalism, Realism, and Edwin Meese's Heresy

5. Speaking before All Others: Interpretation as the Suppression of DisagreementThe Rule of Law; Legal Traditions and Constitutional Rights; Political Resistance and the Expansion of Rights; 6. Pursuing Visions: Interpretation as Moral Evasion; Sexual Speech and Moral Climate; Flag Burning and Political Ethos; Boundlessness and Adjudication; 7. Correcting the Political: Interpretation as Mind Control; Regulating Sexist Speech; The Court and Consciousness Raising; Mind Control and Censorship; 8. Arguing with Enemies: Interpretation as Invective; Name-Calling in the Courts

Judicial Restraint and Moral HeroismThe Ideal of Moderation in a Divided Society; Restraint and the Judicial Machine; 9. Censoring Ourselves; Principle Ascendant; Principle,""Progress,"" and the Tradition of the Family; Principle as Suppression; Principle and Cultural Decline; Notes; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z

Notes:

Includes index.

Previously issued in print: 1994.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Derived record based on print version record and publisher information.

ISBN:

0-19-771965-1

1-280-56111-4

9786610561117

0-19-535841-4

OCLC:

435911859