By Timothy Sandefur
Is liberty or democracy the first constitutional worth? At a time whilst americans are more and more dealing with violations in their civil liberties, Timothy Sandefur's insightful new booklet explains why the assertion of Independence, with its doctrines at the primacy of liberty, the common rights of guy, and the boundaries on valid govt, should still function the guidepost for knowing the structure. the writer takes the reader during the principles of considerable due technique and judicial activism and defends them from mainstream criticisms whereas drawing on examples from literature, tv, and ultimate proceedings. The judgment of right and wrong of the structure: The announcement of Independence and the appropriate to Liberty argues that smooth criminal doctrines, which worth democracy over liberty, are endangering person rights and corrupting our civic institutions.
Read or Download The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty PDF
Best constitutional law books
The Migration of Constitutional Ideas
The migration of constitutional principles throughout jurisdictions is without doubt one of the valuable good points of latest constitutional perform. The expanding use of comparative jurisprudence in reading constitutions is one instance of this. during this 2007 publication, major figures within the examine of comparative constitutionalism and comparative constitutional politics from North the USA, Europe and Australia speak about the dynamic techniques wherein constitutional structures effect one another.
Economics, Law and Individual Rights
This can be the 1st booklet to ascertain person rights from an fiscal standpoint, gathering jointly best articles during this rising niche and exhibiting the colourful and increasing scholarship that relates them. components coated comprise - the consequences of constitutional protections of person rights and freedoms, together with freedom of speech and of the click, - the appropriate to undergo fingers, - the appropriate opposed to unreasonable searches, - definitely the right opposed to self-incrimination, - the precise to trial by means of jury, - the perfect opposed to merciless and weird punishment, together with capital punishment.
Understanding the European Constitution: An Introduction to the EU Constitutional Treaty
The eu Union is now getting into a very important part because the ratification procedure speeds up and key debates and referenda occur in present and probably new member states. The Union’s Constitutional treaty is frequently solid as both a blueprint for a centralized and protectionist super-state or because the triumph of Anglo-Saxon economics.
Constitutionalism, Identity, Difference, and Legitimacy: Theoretical Perspectives
Curiosity in constitutionalism and within the dating between constitutions, nationwide identification, and ethnic, spiritual, and cultural variety has soared because the cave in of socialist regimes in jap Europe and the previous Soviet Union. considering international conflict II there has additionally been a proliferation of recent constitutions that range in numerous crucial respects from the yank structure.
- Constitutional Fate: Theory of the Constitution
- Fat Rights: Dilemmas of Difference and Personhood
- The Abject of Desire: The Aestheticization of the Unaesthetic in Contemporary Literature and Culture. (Genus: Gender in Modern Culture)
- Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, & Religion
- Questioning Sovereignty: Law, State, and Nation in the European Commonwealth (Law, State, and Practical Reason)
Additional info for The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty
Sample text
55 A government that enables a single tyrant or a powerful group of influential insiders to exploit power to benefit themselves would expose citizens to the same dangers of violence and oppression that would exist in a country ruled only by warlords and strongmen. In other words, the extremes touch: a world without lawful protection, and a world in which government has become too powerful, both lead to the same evil consequences. This is not a rhetorical flourish. 57 Each will try to hoard access to it, investing heavily in fencing it off and otherwise defending it against rivals, or in discovering ways to confiscate their rivals’ gains.
Rather, its language consistently reflects the primacy of liberty and the government’s obligation to explain and justify any limits on individual freedom. The Constitution promises to “secure” liberty—not create it. It provides that no laws shall be passed “impairing” contractual agreements, that Congress shall have no power to “abridge” the freedom of speech or to “violate” the people’s “right” against unreasonable searches, and so forth. Most important of all, the Ninth Amendment provides that the mere fact that some rights are specified in the Constitution must not be interpreted as meaning that people have no other rights.
But today, intellectual leaders mainly reject its propositions about natural rights, arguing instead that rights are only privileged spaces of autonomy that the government gives to people whenever doing so serves government’s needs. This inversion warps our understanding of the Constitution and leads to absurd and dangerous consequences. Chapter 2 explores how the Fourteenth Amendment was meant to recommit the United States to the Declaration’s principles and how the Supreme Court’s decision in the 1873 Slaughter-House Cases hampered that effort.