The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era

The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era

by Akhil Reed Amar
The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era

The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era

by Akhil Reed Amar

Hardcover

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Overview

A leading legal scholar addresses the most important constitutional controversies of the past two decades and illuminates the Constitution's spirit and ongoing relevance

America's Constitution, Chief Justice John Marshall famously observed in McCulloch v. Maryland, aspires "to endure for ages to come." The daily news has a shorter shelf life, and when the issues of the day involve momentous constitutional questions, present-minded journalists and busy citizens cannot always see the stakes clearly.

In The Constitution Today, Akhil Reed Amar, America's preeminent constitutional scholar, considers the biggest and most bitterly contested debates of the last two decades and provides a passionate handbook for thinking constitutionally about today's headlines. Amar shows how the Constitution's text, history, and structure are a crucial repository of collective wisdom, providing specific rules and grand themes relevant to every organ of the American body politic. Prioritizing sound constitutional reasoning over partisan preferences, he makes the case for diversity-based affirmative action and a right to have a gun in one's home for self-protection, and against spending caps on independent political advertising and bans on same-sex marriage. He explains what's wrong with presidential dynasties, advocates a "nuclear option" to restore majority rule in the Senate, and suggests ways to reform the Supreme Court. And he revisits three dramatic constitutional conflicts — the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the contested election of George W. Bush, and the fight over Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act — to show what politicians, judges, and journalists got right as events unfolded and what they missed.

Leading readers through the particular constitutional questions at stake in each episode while outlining his abiding views regarding the Constitution's letter, its spirit, and the direction constitutional law must go, Amar offers an essential guide for anyone seeking to understand America's Constitution and its relevance today.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780465096336
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication date: 09/13/2016
Pages: 464
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Akhil Reed Amar is the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. The author of several books, including America's Unwritten Constitution, and the winner of awards from both the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society, Amar lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Constitution on Deadline 1

Part I Modern Branches

1 The Presidency: A Return to Dynasty? 23

2 The Vice Presidency: Nothing, but Maybe Everything 49

3 The Congress: How to Fix a Broken Branch 85

4 The Judiciary: Who Judges the Judges? 111

Part II Culture Wars

5 Criminal Procedure: From O. J. to DNA 155

6 Citizens Dis-United: Race, Guns, Gays, and More 217

7 Constitutional Anniversaries: Remembering to Remember 255

Part III Presidential Dramas

8 Bill Clinton's Drama: His Partisan Impeachment 273

9 George W. Bush's Drama: His Un-Popular Election 327

10 Barack Obama's Drama: His Signature Statute 359

Conclusion: Just, in Time 399

Post-Election Postscript 411

Acknowledgments 431

Permissions 435

Notes 437

Index 451

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