Judicial rhapsodies : rhetoric and fundamental rights in the Supreme Court / Doug Coulson

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coulson, Doug, 1969- author.

Contributor:

Amherst College. Press, publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Supreme Court--Decision making.

United States.

United States. Supreme Court--Language.

Judicial process--United States.

Judicial process.

Judicial opinions--United States.

Judicial opinions.

Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States.

Rhetoric.

Law--United States--Methodology.

Law.

Civil rights--United States.

Civil rights.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 276 pages)

Place of Publication:

[Amherst, MA] : Amherst College Press, 2023.

Summary:

All judges legitimize their decisions in writing, but US Supreme Court justices depend on public acceptance to a unique degree. Previous studies of judicial opinions have explored rhetorical strategies that produce legitimacy, but none have examined the laudatory, even operatic, forms of writing Supreme Court justices have used to justify fundamental rights decisions. Doug Coulson demonstrates that such "judicial rhapsodies" are not an aberration but a central feature of judicial discourse. First examining the classical origins of divisions between law and rhetoric, Coulson tracks what he calls an epideictic register--highly affective forms of expression that utilize hyperbole, amplification, and vocabularies of praise--through a surprising number of landmark Supreme Court opinions. Judicial Rhapsodies recovers and revalues these instances as significant to establishing and maintaining shared perspectives that form the basis for common experience and cooperation.

Contents:

Introduction : Rhapsodic Jurisprudence

1. Judicial and Epideictic Rhetoric : A False Division

2. Freedom of Speech, Paramologia, and the Flag

3. Keeping Government Out of Religion and Vice Versa

4. Storms, Shadows, and Privacy

Conclusion : Truth Has No Bones

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239 -256) and index.

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9781943208470

OCLC:

1371449855