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by: John Ely  List Price: $25.00 Amazon.com's Price: $22.50 You Save: $2.50 (10%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 347.7312 EAN: 9780674196377 ISBN: 0674196376 Label: Harvard University Press Manufacturer: Harvard University Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 268 Publication Date: August 10, 1980 Publisher: Harvard University Press Studio: Harvard University Press Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: This powerfully argued appraisal of judicial review may change the face of American law. Written for layman and scholar alike, the book addresses one of the most important issues facing Americans today: within what guidelines shall the Supreme Court apply the strictures of the Constitution to the complexities of modern life? Until now legal experts have proposed two basic approaches to the Constitution. The first, "interpretivism," maintains that we should stick as closely as possible to what is explicit in the document itself. The second, predominant in recent academic theorizing, argues that the courts should be guided by what they see as the fundamental values of American society. Mr. Ely demonstrates that both of these approaches are inherently incomplete and inadequate. Democracy and Distrust sets forth a new and persuasive basis for determining the role of the Supreme Court today. Ely's proposal is centered on the view that the Court should devote itself to assuring majority governance while protecting minority rights. "The Constitution," he writes, "has proceeded from the sensible assumption that an effective majority will not unreasonably threaten its own rights, and has sought to assure that such a majority not systematically treat others less well than it treats itself. It has done so by structuring decision processes at all levels in an attempt to ensure, first, that everyone's interests will be represented when decisions are made, and second, that the application of those decisions will not be manipulated so as to reintroduce in practice the sort of discrimination that is impermissible in theory. Thus, Ely's emphasis is on the procedural side of due process, on the preservation of governmental structure rather than on the recognition of elusive social values. At the same time, his approach is free of interpretivism's rigidity because it is fully responsive to the changing wishes of a popular majority. Consequently, his book will have a profound impact on legal opinion at all levels-from experts in constitutional law, to lawyers with general practices, to concerned citizens watching the bewildering changes in American law. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Tough Book-Interesting IdeaThis is simply to say that if you are a student, and you are assigned this book, give yourself enough time to read it. It is thick, and Ely does things like stop in the middle of sentences and begin to talk to himself. It makes his idea difficult to follow. He also writes 6+ line sentences with no punctuation. It's not an impossible read, but it's not an overnight read either, FYI. Rating:  - Seminal work from late scholarOne of the most cited Constitutional law scholars in legal history, John Hart Ely's book was published in 1980. The book, which earned the Order of the Coif award as the best book about law published from 1980 to 1982, focused on the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution. He wrote that the judiciary's role was to assure democracy with an open and fair political process - without focusing solely on the original intent of the drafters of the Constitution, or inferring moral ... Read More Rating:  - Juridprudence: Is there a middle ground?This excellent little book tries to find a middle ground between the judicial activism advocated by Ronald Dworkin, for example, and the strict original intent approach eloquently defended by Robert Bork. Philosophy of jurisprudence is not always a concept easily grasped, however. In the first chapter, Ely takes us through the discussion of where and how judges drive their activist approach through the door. Ely agrees that the due process clause of the constitution is not the place where an activist ... Read More Rating: - A true classicJohn Ely's masterpiece on the the proper scope of judicial review is a must-read for anyone interested in the Supreme Court or just law in general. In short, Ely feels the Court should limit its power to assuring adequate access to the political process for all and not to giving answers to substantive issues such as abortion, affirmative action, economic rights, etc. In short, the book is a strong defense of the activism of the Warren Court (Ely clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren and the book ... Read More Rating: - One of the great law booksProfessor John Hart Ely's "Democracy and Distrust" is, quite simply, one of the great books about American constitutional law. Ely's task, to come up with a cohesive and coherent theory for judicial review, is far from a simple task, and yet his writing is so smooth and easy that the task *seems* easy. It is relatively easy to summarize Ely's general theory in few words. He argues that the American process is essentially democratic and that the role of the courts should be to police that process. In ... Read More 
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