Lexington Books
Pages: 174
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼
978-0-7391-9082-1 • Hardback • June 2014 • $114.00 • (£88.00)
978-0-7391-9721-9 • Paperback • April 2016 • $51.99 • (£40.00)
978-0-7391-9083-8 • eBook • June 2014 • $49.00 • (£38.00)
Kerry L. Hunter is full professor in the Department of Political Economy at the College of Idaho.
Chapter One: Approaching the United States Constitution: Sacred Covenant or Mere Plaything For Lawyers and Judges
Chapter Two: American Utopian Constitutionalism
Chapter Three: Hamilton’s Court as Conscience
Chapter Four: The Umpire Has No Clothes
Chapter Five: Toward Embracing Hamilton’s Ideal
America’s litigious excesses may be inhibiting rather than advancing the cause of justice, argues Kerry Hunter. In an inventive new approach, Hunter grapples with the central question of how we conceive of our Constitution, and who, by rights, may lay claim to its interpretation. Drawing on the case of New Zealand, where courts lack judicial review, and infusing a fresh view of Alexander Hamilton, Hunter rightly warns us that legal sophistry is not only no substitute for, but may be inimical to, American justice.
— Robert J. Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, SUNY Cortland; author, "The Politics of Gun Control" and "Guns Across America: Reconciling Gun Rules and Rights"
Professor Hunter has written an impassioned, original, and timely challenge to the legal sophistry and constitutional obsessions that are undermining U.S. politics. His argument is informed by a comparative cross-national perspective and long study of American legal practices. The result is a heady, provocative ethical defense of democratic ideals against narrow legalism and its corrosive effects on our polity.
— Michael McCann, University of Washington