A01=Brian E. Butler
adjudication
analysis
Author_Brian E. Butler
brown v board of education
Category=LND
charles sanders peirce
choice
citizens united federal election commission
community
constitution
courts
democracy
direct
epstein
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
experimentalism
history
holmes
interpretation
john dewey
jurisprudence
justice
law
legal system
local rule
lochner new york
lucas south carolina coastal council
nonfiction
obergefell
precedent
representatives
Richard Posner
Sabel
social contract theory
Supreme Court
voters
Product details
- ISBN 9780226474502
- Weight: 510g
- Dimensions: 16 x 24mm
- Publication Date: 21 Aug 2017
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The Supreme Court is seen today as the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution. Once the Court has spoken, it is the duty of the citizens and their elected officials to abide by its decisions. But the conception of the Supreme Court as the final interpreter of constitutional law took hold only relatively recently. Drawing on the pragmatic ideals characterized by Charles Sanders Peirce, John Dewey, Charles Sabel, and Richard Posner. Brian E. Butler shows how this conception is inherently problematic for a healthy democracy. Butler offers an alternative democratic conception of constitutional law, "democratic experimentalism," and applies it in a thorough reconstruction of Supreme Court cases across the centuries, such as Brown v. Board of Education, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, and Lochner v. New York. In contrast to the traditional tools and conceptions of legal analysis that see the law as a formally unique and separate type of practice, democratic experimentalism combines democratic aims and experimental practice.
Butler also suggests other directions jurisprudential roles could take: for example, adjudication could be performed by primary stakeholders with better information. Ultimately, Butler argues persuasively for a move away from the current absolute centrality of courts toward a system of justice that emphasizes local rule and democratic choice.
Brian E. Butler is the Thomas Howerton Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Department of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina. He is the editor of Democratic Experimentalism.
