Description
In The Changing Constitution, Richard H. Fallon Jr. explores the constitutional law of the United States as reflected in decisions of the Supreme Court, including recent blockbusters. The author analyses controversial rulings addressing topics such as freedom of speech and religion, the Second Amendment right to bear arms, abortion, affirmative action, gay rights, and the powers and prerogatives of the President. Examining modern controversies from a historical perspective he argues that it's impossible to understand U.S. constitutional law without recognizing the political and institutional forces that always have brought, and will continue to bring, innovations and occasional reversals in constitutional doctrine. Fallon also highlights distinctive aspects of the current era, including the judicial philosophies of the sitting Justices. This intellectually sophisticated overview of constitutional law and Supreme Court practice additionally discusses anxieties about whether and how the Justices, who can overrule their own precedents, are meaningfully constrained by law.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. The written constitution and the emergence of judicial supremacy; 2. Historical overview of constitutional adjudication by the Supreme Court; 3. The Supreme Court today; 4. Freedom of religion: the crumbling 'wall of separation' between church and state; 5. The freedom of speech: the ascent of 'the persuasion principle'; 6. The expanding and contested 'right to keep and bear arms'; 7. The equal protection of the laws: what it once meant and now means; 8. Substantive due process and unenumerated fundamental rights after the overruling of Roe v. Wade; 9. The shrinking yet still formidable powers of congress; 10. The powers of the president and the executive branch in a period of ferment; 11. Law and change in the Supreme Court.
