Frank I. Michelman's Books

Brennan and Democracy

By: Frank I. Michelman

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In Brennan and Democracy, a leading thinker in U.S. constitutional law offers some powerful reflections on the idea of "constitutional democracy," a concept in which many have seen the makings of paradox. Here Frank Michelman explores the apparently conflicting commitments of a democratic governmental system where key aspects of such important social issues as affirmative action, campaign finance reform, and abortion rights are settled not by a legislative vote but by the decisions of unelected judges. Can we--or should we--embrace the values of democracy together with constitutionalism, judicial supervision, and the rule of law? To answer this question, Michelman calls into service the judicial career of Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, the country's model "activist" judge for the past forty years. Michelman draws on Brennan's record and writings to suggest how the Justice himself might have understood the judiciary's role in the simultaneous promotion of both democratic and constitutional government. The first chapter prompts us to reflect on how tough and delicate an act it is for the members of a society to attempt living together as a people devoted to self-government. The second chapter seeks to renew our appreciation for democratic liberal political ideals, and includes an extensive treatment of Brennan's judicial opinions, which places them in relation to opposing communitarian and libertarian positions. Michelman also draws on the views of two other prominent constitutional theorists, Robert Post and Ronald Dworkin, to build a provocative discussion of whether democracy is best conceived as a "procedural" or a "substantive" ideal.

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161

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400823366

ISBN 13

9781400823369

Constitutional Essentials

On the Constitutional Theory of Political Liberalism

By: Frank I. Michelman

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Constitutional Essentials

On the Constitutional Theory of Political Liberalism

By: Frank I. Michelman

We enter here upon a history of conversational traffic between the respective departments of philosophy and law in the old academy of liberalism, where lawyers hear much from philosophers, yes-and philosophers hear from lawyers, too, in what has fruitfully been a both-ways exchange. Our philosophical protagonist is John Rawls. This book comprises a study of the rise and workings, within the Rawlsian political-liberal philosophy, of the idea of a country's higher-legal constitution as a public platform for the justification of political coercion. A study of Rawls on constitutionalism can help us, I believe, in scoping out and managing a cluster of constitutional lawyers' debates-interminable ones, it seems, in the constitutional-democratic precincts of our times-that I will catalogue soon below. But conversely, I believe, those seeking the best and truest readings of Rawls might have something to learn from the controversies of the lawyers. My approach to Rawls has accordingly been that of a critically leavened (while no doubt broadly sympathetic) exegesis, while with the legal-discursive materials I take more of a diagnostic turn. My hope is that a treatment of these two discourses in relation to each other will prove an aid to both political-philosophical and legal-practical reflection"--

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233

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0197655831

ISBN 13

9780197655832

Legitimation by Constitution

A Dialogue on Political Liberalism

By: Alessandro Ferrara,Frank I. Michelman

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Legitimation by Constitution

A Dialogue on Political Liberalism

By: Alessandro Ferrara,Frank I. Michelman

Legitimation by Constitution is the phrase, coined by distinguished authors Frank Michelman and Alessandro Ferrara, for a key idea in Rawlsian political liberalism of a reliance on a dualist form of democracy-a subjection of ground-level lawmaking to the constraints of a higher-law constitution that most citizens could find acceptable as a framework for their politics-as a response to the problem of maintaining a liberally just, stable, and oppression-free democratic government in conditions of pluralist visionary conflict. Legitimation by Constitution recalls, collects, and combines a series of exchanges over the years between Michelman and Ferrara, inspired by Rawls' encapsulation of this conception in his proposed liberal principle of legitimacy. From a shared standpoint of sympathetic identification with the political-liberal statement of the problem, for which legitimation by constitution is proposed as a solution, these exchanges consider the perceived difficulties arguably standing in the way of this proposal's fulfillment on terms consistent with political liberalism's defining ideas about political justification. The authors discuss the mysteries of a democratic constituent power; the tensions between government-by-the-people and government-by-consent; the challenges posed to concretization by judicial authorities of national constitutional law; and the magnification of these tensions and challenges under the lenses of ambition towards transnational legal ordering. These discussions engage with other leading contemporary theorists of liberal-democratic constitutionalism including Bruce Ackerman, Ronald Dworkin, and Jürgen Habermas.

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Page Count

209

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192855123

ISBN 13

9780192855121

Brennan and Democracy

By: Frank I. Michelman

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Brennan and Democracy

By: Frank I. Michelman

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161

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400823366

ISBN 13

9781400823369

Constitutional Essentials

On the Constitutional Theory of Political Liberalism

By: Frank I. Michelman

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Constitutional Essentials

On the Constitutional Theory of Political Liberalism

By: Frank I. Michelman

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N/A

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

233

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0197655831

ISBN 13

9780197655832

Book's by Frank I. Michelman

Brennan and Democracy

Brennan and Democracy

Constitutional Essentials

Constitutional Essentials

Legitimation by Constitution

Legitimation by Constitution

Brennan and Democracy

Brennan and Democracy

Constitutional Essentials

Constitutional Essentials

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