Constitutional revolutions : pragmatism and the role of judicial review in American constitutionalism
"In Constitutional Revolutions Robert Justin Lipkin radically rethinks modern constitutional jurisprudence, challenging the traditional view of constitutional change as solely an extension or transformation of prior law. He instead argues for the idea of "constitutional revolutions"--Landmark decisions that are revolutionary because they are not generated from legal precedent and because they occur when the Constitution fails to provide effective procedures for accommodating a needed change." "Drawing on ethical theory, philosophy of science, and constitutional theory, Lipkin provides a progressive, postmodern, and pragmatic theory of constitutional law that justifies the critical role played by the judiciary in American democracy."--Jacket
xv, 366 pages ; 25 cm
9780822324294, 0822324296
42296694
<h3>Contents</h3> <pre> PREFACE............................................................................................ix INTRODUCTION The Crisis of American Constitutionalism.............................................1 Constitutional Legitimacy and the Countermajoritarian Problem......................................7 Originalism and Constitutional Meaning.............................................................13 The Primacy of Constitutional Change...............................................................15 The Fallacy of Monist Constitutional Adjudication..................................................16 Metaphysical Realism and Modern Constitutionalism..................................................19 Constitutional Revolutions.........................................................................21 The American Communitarian Republic................................................................23 An Overview........................................................................................26 1 Constitutionalism and Dualist Politics...........................................................29 Ackerman's Dualism and Postmodern Pragmatism.......................................................32 2 Dworkin's Constitutional Coherentism.............................................................77 Law as Integrity and Constitutional Revolutions....................................................77 Two Conceptions of the Relationship between Fit and Justification..................................93 Pragmatism and Law as Integrity....................................................................108 Right Answers in Hard Cases........................................................................112 3 The Theory of Constitutional Revolutions.........................................................118 The Proper Role of Dualism in Constitutional Jurisprudence.........................................119 Constitutional Paradigms...........................................................................134 The Theory of Constitutional Revolutions...........................................................136 Background Theories of Constitutional Change.......................................................147 The Theory of Judicial Reasoning...................................................................150 4 The Historical Defense of the Theory.............................................................154 The Countermajoritarian Question and the History of Revolutionary Adjudication.....................160 The Formative Revolutions..........................................................................162 Contemporary Revolutions...........................................................................191 5 The Conceptual and Political Defenses of the Theory..............................................206 The Conceptual Defense.............................................................................206 The Political Defense..............................................................................228 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................238 NOTES..............................................................................................241 BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................339 INDEX..............................................................................................355 </pre>