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The American Constitution and the Debate over Originalism
by Dennis J. Goldford
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (2005-04-25)
ISBN: 0521845580
EAN: 9780521845588
Dewy Decimal #: 342.7301
Hardcover: 320 pages
SKU: S070114-0321-DL
Condition: Like New
Comments: New Book. New condition. No dustcover. Ships same day or next in a bubble mailer. Enjoy,
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Located at the intersection of law, political science, philosophy, and literary theory, this book explores the nature of American constitutional interpretation through a reconsideration of the long-standing debate between the interpretive theories of originalism and nonoriginalism. It traces that debate to a particular set of premises about the nature of language, interpretation, and objectivity, premises that raise the specter of unconstrained, unstructured constitutional interpretation that has haunted contemporary constitutional theory.
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Customer Reviews
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Unimpressed
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-10-29
Very much unimpressed. While I believe he does a good job in exploring its history, the author's analysis is quite lacking.
In it he makes such poor conclusions as:
--"originalism may not lead to unanimity." No one arguing the case for originalism has said that the conclusions will be the same. That is the purpose of debating and exploring the history.
--"originalists reject the doctrine [of incorporation--the idea that the Bill of Rights is applied to the states through one or more provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment] as inconsistent with original intent." While Raoul Berger shook its foundations that statement is not true of all originalists. A scholar seeking after accuracy would have qualified that statement.
Apparently the author is unaware that there are originalists who find in the Constitution sanction for more liberal policies than more liberal adherents of originalism. His thesis basically seems that originalists are originalists because it squares with their conservative policy preferences. However, originalism is not a monolithic position. There are originalists, for example Randy Barnett, who find in the Ninth Amendment protection laws against homosexual sodomy, which would support the Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court decision.
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