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The Unpredictable Constitution »

Book cover image of The Unpredictable Constitution by Norman Dorsen

Authors: Norman Dorsen (Editor), Normon Dorsen
ISBN-13: 9780814719480, ISBN-10: 0814719481
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: New York University Press
Date Published: December 2001
Edition: (Non-applicable)

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Author Biography: Norman Dorsen

Normon Dorsen is Stokes Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, the former president of the ACLU and former Chairman of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. He is author or editor of nine books.

Book Synopsis

The Unpredictable Constitution brings together a distinguished group of U.S. Supreme Court Justices and U.S. Court of Appeals Judges, who are some of our most prominent legal scholars, to discuss an array of topics on civil liberties.

In thoughtful and incisive essays, the authors draw on decades of experience to examine such wide-ranging issues as how legal error should be handled, the death penalty, reasonable doubt, racism in American and South African courts, women and the constitution, and government benefits.

Contributors: Richard S. Arnold, Martha Craig Daughtry, Harry T. Edwards, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Betty B. Fletcher, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Lord Irvine of Lairg, Jon O. Newman, Sandra Day O'Connor, Richard A. Posner, Stephen Reinhardt, and Patricia M. Wald.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction1
1Government Benefits: A New Look at an Old Gift Horse7
2Racism in American and South African Courts: Similarities and Differences26
3Portia's Progress57
4Speaking in a Judicial Voice71
5Beyond "Reasonable Doubt"101
6The Death Penalty in America: Can Justice Be Done?128
7To Err Is Human, but Not Always Harmless: When Should Legal Error Be Tolerated?147
8How James Madison Interpreted the Constitution190
9Against Constitutional Theory217
10The Anatomy of an Execution: Fairness versus "Process"239
11Women and the Constitution: Where We Are at the End of the Century283
12Sovereignty on Comparative Perspective: Constitutionalism in Britain and America309
Contributors335
Index337

Subjects