by Neal Devins



Editorial Reviews

From Book News, Inc.
An investigation into how elected government impacts constitutional law
taking abortion legislation and debates as its nucleus. In answering the
question of whether the Supreme Court and the elected government respect
each other, the volume sifts through the range of powers each possess,
issues of decision making, the costs of single issue politics on political
institutions, the Court's sensitivity to politics, and the role of public
opinion. Includes a detailed study of Roe vs. Wade. Paper edition

Product Description:

In several provocative case studies, Neal Devins explores the role that
judicial and elected officials play in forging constitutional meaning. To
illustrate his thesis that constitutional interpretation is 'a dialectic
involving all of government,' he examines the evolution of abortion
politics in the years since Roe. Here and throughout, Devins demonstrates
the interdependence of governmental branches so often obscured in
conventional accounts of separation of powers."--Reva Siegel, Yale Law
School

In the more than twenty years since Roe vs. Wade, the executive and
legislative branches of government have pursued a staggering number of
initiatives relating to abortion. In this groundbreaking study, legal
scholar Neal Devins shows how the Supreme Court, elected government, and
private citizens together help to shape what the Constitution means.
Central to his study is the question of how the Court and elected
government influence each other. In addition to the abortion debate,
Devins examines conflicts over federalism, race, religion, and separation
of powers.

These constitutional disputes, Devins contends, can be as constructive as
they are inevitable. The long fight over abortion, for example, has
resulted in a highly workable--if imperfect--compromise, with elected
government becoming more pro-choice and the Court more pro-life. More
significant, the Constitution is made more vital by such ongoing
interchanges among the Court, elected government, and the people. Without
an ongoing dynamic that allows each side to win some of the time, Devins
concludes, the Constitution would be less enduring.

Product Details

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press (August 1, 1996)
ISBN: 0801852854