Courts and the Culture Wars

by Watson, Bradley C. S.; Bork, Robert H.; Canavan, Fr. Francis; Dry, Murray; Eastman, John C.; Erler, Edward J.; Manfredi, Christopher P.; Peacock, Anthony A.; Rabkin, Jeremy; Rice, Charles E.; Walker, Graham; Whittington, Keith E.

• ISBN13: 9780739104149
• ISBN10: 0739104144
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-28
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

For much of the second half of the twentieth century, America's courts--state and federal--have injected themselves into what many critics consider to be fundamentally moral or political disputes. By constitutionalizing these disputes, many feel that the courts have reduced the ability of Americans to engage in traditional, political modes of settling differences over issues that excite particular passion. While legal discourse is well suited to choosing decisive winners and losers, political discourse is perhaps more conducive to reasonable compromise and accommodation. In Courts and the Culture Wars Bradley C. S. Watson has brought together some of America's most distinguished names in constitutional theory and practice to consider the impact of judicial engagement in the moral, religious, and cultural realms--including such issues as school prayer, abortion, gay rights, and expressive speech.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction Courting Disaster: Jurisprudence as Moral Philosophy	ix
Bradley C. S. Watson
Part I: Courts and Culture: Fundamental Theoretical Issues
Courts and the Culture Wars	3	(12)
Robert H. Bork
From Ockham to Blackmun: The Philosophical Roots of Liberal Jurisprudence	15	(12)
Francis Canavan
The Death of the Legalized Constitution and the Specter of Judicial Review	27	(18)
Keith E. Whittington
Part II: Cultural Controversies and the Courts: Abortion, Homosexuality, Church, and State
The Culture of Death, the Higher Law, and the Courts	45	(18)
Charles E. Rice
Who Owns the Right to Privacy?	63	(16)
Jeremy Rabkin
Tolerance and American Constitutionalism: The Case of Gay Rights	79	(20)
Murray Dry
Religious Freedom without Religious Neutrality: Our Once and Future Constitutional Common Sense	99	(28)
Graham Walker
Part III: Judicial Practice and the Culture Wars
Stare Decisis: Conservatism's One--Way Ratchet Problem	127	(12)
John C. Eastman
The California Supreme Court in the Culture Wars: A Case Study in Judicial Failure	139	(14)
Edward J. Erler
Part IV: Courts, Culture, and Liberal Democracy
Courts, Culture, and Community: Rescuing Constitutional Supremacy from Judicial Supremacy	153	(14)
Christopher P. Manfredi
The Voting Rights Act and the Politics of Multiculturalism: The Challenge to Commercial Republicanism at Century's Turn	167	(30)
Anthony A. Peacock
Index	197	(8)
About the Contributors	205	(4)
About the Editor	209