The unelected : how an unaccountable elite is governing America / by James R. Copland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Copland, James R., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Law--United States.

Law.

Politics and government.

United States.

United States--Politics and government--21st century.

Physical Description:

287 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Encounter Books, 2020.

Summary:

"America is increasingly polarized around elections, but as James R. Copland explains, the unelected control much of the government apparatus that affects our lives. Congress has largely abdicated its authority. "Independent" administrative agencies churn out thousands of new regulations a year. Courts have enabled these agencies to expand their powers beyond those authorized by law-and limited executive efforts to rein in the bureaucratic behemoth. No ordinary citizen today can know what is legal and what is not. Some 300,000 federal crimes exist, 98 percent of which were created by administrative action rather than Congressional lawmaking. The proliferation of rules and the severity of sanctions give enormous discretion to unelected enforcement agents-upending the rule of law. Private attorneys regulate vast swathes of conduct through lawsuits, based upon legal theories never voted upon by the people's elected representatives. A combination of historical accident, decisions by judges and law professors, and self-interested advocacy by the plaintiffs' bar have left the United States with the world's most-expensive litigation system. Finally, state and local officials have increasingly pursued agendas to dictate the terms of national commerce. In reaching beyond their borders, these "new antifederalists" have been subjecting the citizens of Wyoming and Mississippi to the whims of the electorates of New York and San Francisco-inverting the constitutional design. In this timely new book, Manhattan Institute legal scholar Copland discusses how unelected actors have assumed control of the American republic-and where we need to go to chart a corrective course"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Legislating Without Congress

2. Administering Without the Executive

3. Judging Without the Judiciary

4. Regulating Without Rulemaking

5. Criminalizing Everything

6. Offers You Can't Refuse

7. Litigation Nation

8. Lawyers Without Clients

9. Bottom-Up Regulators

10. The Lawsuit Industry

11. Magic Jurisdictions

12. Act Locally, Sue Globally

13. Stock Market Politics

14. Restoring the Republic.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-275) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Copland, James R. Unelected.

ISBN:

9781641771207

1641771208

OCLC:

1142906517