Books by "Jack N. Rakove"
2 books found
From one of the nation’s preeminent constitutional scholars, a sweeping rethinking of the uses of history in constitutional interpretation Fights over history are at the heart of most important constitutional disputes in America. The Supreme Court’s current embrace of originalism is only the most recent example of how lawyers and judges try to use history to establish authority for their positions. Jack M. Balkin argues that fights over constitutional interpretation are often fights over collective memory. Lawyers and judges construct—and erase—memory to lend authority to their present-day views; they make the past speak their values so they can then claim to follow it. The seemingly opposed camps of originalism and living constitutionalism are actually mirror images of a single phenomenon: how lawyers use history to adapt an ancient constitution to a constantly changing world. Balkin shows how lawyers and judges channel history through standard forms of legal argument that shape how they use history and even what they see in history. He explains how lawyers and judges invoke history selectively to construct authority for their claims and undermine the authority of opposing views. And he elucidates the perpetual quarrel between historians and lawyers, showing how the two can best join issue in legal disputes. This book is a sweeping rethinking of the uses of history in constitutional interpretation.
In 1999, 39% of American households had guns. Approximately 28 million households. In 2001, the Fifth Circuit held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms. But in 2002, the Ninth Circuit ruled contrary, that there is no individual right; there is only a collective right of the states to arm the National Guard. Who is right? What does the Second Amendment do? 28 million households want to know! A People Armed and Free: The Truth About the Second Amendment, using plain, common language, easy to understand, goes through six factors that the courts consider in determining the meaning of constitutional provisions: The text itself, the history of the Amendment, the structure of the government, previous court decisions, public policy, and the ethos of the American people. The applicability of the Fourteenth Amendment to restrict the states' efforts to regulate gun ownership, the current status of federal gun regulation and current proposals for more regulations and their possible constitutionality are also discussed. Unlike most books, this book looks at all arguments, from all sides, and makes a decision, as an appellate judge would do after reviewing briefs and hearing arguments, only cutting through the legalese.