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Customer Reviews (1)

reducing the role of the legislature
The author advocates the court system's writing law instead of being the arbiter. The author appears to believe that courts can make all decisions by broadly referencing the Constitution. In the extreme, the authority of elected legislatures would be dramatically diminished. I found his point of view frightening in his willingness to so dramatically tamper with the balance of powers of our system ... Read more

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WORLD GOVERNMENT, READY OR NOT! is the first how-to-do-it and how-it-is-being done book on the making of world peace through government of, by, and for the citizens of the world recounted in masterful detail by a veteran of over 50 years experience in the "field." WWII bomber pilot Garry Davis, in 1948 took Emery Reves (Anatomy of Peace) at his word first that "...the ideal of the nation-state is bankrupt.." and second that "There is no first step to world government. World Government is the first step." The eclectic Renaissance Man, stateless World Citizen Davis "lives" the future today treating philosophy, law, economics, travel, space, history and more with equal ease and insight. Moreover, as a world activist, he has seen the inside of over 30 national prisons. E. B.White wrote that "Davis marches to the beat of the Universe while we all march to a broken drum.""The birth pangs of the new world order are already upon us," Davis writes in the Prologue, "and as necessity knows no law but its own, we are too busy attending to that long-heralded and momentous birth to still the shrill cries of infidelity."WORLD GOVERNMENT, READY OR NOT! is a book for the 21st century and beyond. ... Read more

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From the ancient origins of Just War doctrine to utilitarian and retributive theories of punishment, concepts of proportionality have long been an instrumental part of the rule of law and an essential check on government power. These concepts all embody the fundamental value that government and private actions should not be demonstrably excessive relative to their moral and practical justifications. In the American legal system, despite frequent though unacknowledged use of proportionality principles, there is no general theory of what permits courts to invalidate intrusive measures.

In Proportionality Principles in American Law, two renowned legal scholars seek to advance such a theory. They argue that standards of review should be more clearly and precisely defined, and that in most circumstances every intrusive government measure which limits or threatens individual rights should undergo some degree of proportionality review. Across a wide range of legal contexts, E. Thomas Sullivan and Richard S. Frase identify three basic ways that government measures and private remedies have been found to be disproportionate: relative to fault; relative to alternative means of achieving the same practical purposes; and relative to the likely practical benefits of the measure or remedy. Using this structure, the book examines the origins and contemporary uses of proportionality principles in public law, civil liberties, and the criminal justice system, emphasizing the utility of proportionality principles to guide judicial review of excessive government measures.

By constructing a new framework and a general theory for constitutional judicial review, Proportionality Principles in American Law will help courts more consistently and effectively apply proportionality principles to better serve their vital roles as guardians of individual rights and liberties. ... Read more

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This book is suitable for ages 5 to 10 years. Emphasis is placed on the fact no law can be implemented without going through a painstaking and deliberate process designed to protect all members of society. ... Read more

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Since the first edition of Public Administration and Law was published in 1983, it has retained its unique status of being the only book in the field of public administration that analyzes how constitutional law regulates and informs the way administrators interact with each other and the public. Examining First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights as they pertain to these encounters, it explains how public administrators must do their jobs and how administrative systems must operate in order to comply with constitutional law.

Explores the conflicts between laws

The book begins by presenting a historical account of the way constitutional and administrative law have incrementally "retrofitted" public agencies into the nation’s constitutional design. It examines the federal judiciary’s impact on federal administration and the effect of the nation’s myriad environmental laws on public administration. Next, it focuses on the role of the individual as a client and customer of public agencies. In a discussion of the Fourth Amendment, it examines street-level encounters between citizens and law enforcement agents. Responding to the rise of the new public management (NPM), it also adds, for the first time in this edition, a chapter that analyzes the rights of the individual not only as a government employee but also as a government contractor.

Enhanced with numerous references

The final chapters of the book address issues concerning the rights of inmates in administrative institutions and balancing the need to protect individual rights with the ability of agencies to function effectively. Supplemented with case citations and lists of articles, books, and documents, this text is designed to facilitate further study in a constantly evolving area.

About the Authors:

David H. Rosenbloom, Ph.D. is Distinguished Professor of Public Administration in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., and Chair Professor of Public Management at City University of Hong Kong. Rosemary O’Leary, Ph.D., J.D. is Distinguished Professor of Public Administration and the Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership at Syracuse University. Joshua M. Chanin, M.P.A., J.D. is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Administration and Justice, Law, and Society in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C.

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International law and armed conflict exist in a symbiotic relationship. In some cases, law shapes conflict proactively by imposing normative limits in advance of the appearance of proscribed conduct. Much more commonly, armed conflict either reveals lacunae in the law or demonstrates how law designed for yesterday's wars falls short when applied to contemporary conflict. When that happens, international law reacts by allowing provisions to fall into desuetude, embracing new interpretations of existing prescriptions, or generating new norms through practice or codification. In the 21st Century, both international security and armed conflict are the subject of arguably unprecedented sea changes. As a result, claims that both the jus ad bellum and jus in bello are unwieldy and ill-fitting in the context of modern hostilities have surfaced prominently.Whether one agrees with such dire assessments, what has become clear is that armed conflict is increasingly exposing faultlines in the law governing the resort to force.The intent of this collection of essays in honour of Professor Yoram Dinstein on the occasion of his 70th birthday is to explore such faultlines, first by identifying them and then by assessing their consequences. In a sense, then, the essays, contributed by the top minds in the field, will serve to assist academics and practitioners to anticipate pressure on the law governing armed conflict and, to the extent possible, react accordingly. Paralleling Professor Dinstein's classic works - "War, Aggression, and Self-Defence" and "The Conduct of Hostilities Under the Law of International Armed Conflict", the book addresses both jus ad bellum and jus in bello topics. ... Read more

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This text delivers an introduction to the principles of politics and government, providing students with an understanding of the key concepts necessary for studying more specialized topics in poitical science. It provides coverage of contemporary, news-making issues, such as national security and terrorism, that are relevant to students' lives. ... Read more

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With meticulous revising and updating throughout, Epstein and Walker streamline material while accounting for recent landmark cases and new scholarship. This seventh edition features two important improvements:

• a completely revamped interior layout and design that clearly delineates between commentary and opinion excerpts while more effectively showcasing photos, Justice biographies, and the Aftermath and Global Perspective sidebars.
• the case commentary not only details the case Facts, but now also includes an Arguments section that details the attorneys arguments for each side leading to more focused and effective reading of the case. 
... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

This is the 4th Edition
I may have been foolish and overlooked but a precaution.This is the 4th edition while I needed the 6th so take note of my mistake.

Made me Like Constitutional Law!
Constitutional Law for a Changing America is the perfect textbook for Con. Law courses because on one hand it's basic enough that people like myself who do not have a deep rooted background in law can understand it, but not so basic that it bores people who have lengthy backgrounds and intrests in law to tears. The case excerpts are brief as not to tie students down in wordy verbage, but are excerpted in such a way that one gets the most important points of the cases. With the right professor, who can explain to students that a case like Korematsu v. United States for example, is not about the plight of one man during WW2, but rather concearns what governmental and military leaders can do during conditions of war, which effects our daily lives...Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Institutional Powers and Constraintsis a must have book.

Never Order from FEDELSTE
I ordered a text book for my son on Feb 3. It was promised delery between Feb 10 and 25. The book has not arrived after more than 5 weeks.


I never received any reply to any of my my e-mails to Amazon (which they forward to the seller) and to the seller. I could not find any phone number to contact anyone.

I have finally given up and sending an e-mail to Amazon for refund.

Deep Goswami
Florida

needed for school
I received this book in excellent condition.I needed it for an online course I'm taking.The delivery was timely and again the book was in excellent condition.

great book
The text covers const. law powers extensively,featuring integral cases relevant to topics being discussed - fantastic! ... Read more

Product Description
Capital-intensive projects throughout the world --including large-scale energy, infrastructure, toll road, solid waste,and recycling projects -- rely on project finance as the mostimportant financing technique available. But the complexity of projectfinance requires that the practitioner predict and resolve a number ofpotential risks involving bankruptcy, currency, and political issues,among others, and often in emerging economies. Drawing on the author's 15-plus years of experience in all types ofproject finance, The Law and Business of International ProjectFinance is the first comprehensive, multi-discipline book toaddress these risks and their resolution and to detail each of theelements necessary for a successful project financing. Mirroring thestructure of an actual project finance deal, this all-in-one handbookexamines each step of the process, from the rationale for the projectfinance, through risk allocation and mitigation, to disputeresolution. Topics discussed include financing sources, environmentalissues, bilateral and multilateral support, contract aspects andtypical contract terms, project contracts as credit support, projectfinance loan documents, collateral documents, and permits.All participants in a project financing -- including lenders,developers, investors, host governments, governmental agencies,multilateral and bilateral agencies, off-take purchasers, inputsuppliers, contractors, and operators -- can turn to The Law andBusiness of International Project Finance as an accessible tool and areliable research database. Its unique combination of practicalfeatures includes+a checklist of keyconsiderations to assist the practitioner in structuring, negotiatingand reviewing a project finance transaction;+a detailedglossary of project finance terms; +references to legal andbusiness books and articles relating to project finance; and + sample project finance clauses and provisions with discussion andsuggestions for implementation. These features enable practitioners and non-practitioners at alllevels to understand the components and language of project financeand to recognize and avoid potential pitfalls. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent
We bought a copy for our project finance/infrastructure finance dept. at our bank.It's excellent, especially the due diligence checklist

Brilliant
This is the one project finance book I keep at my desk and take with me onbusiness trips.It is invaluable.The book is filled with importantinformation I need when working on a project finance deal (sample contractprovisions; explanations of currency risks; financing sources; World Banklending characteristics; political risk insurance; and on and on.Theauthor manages to do the impossible--he combines legal and business aspectsof project finance in an easy-to-use format, from a real life perspective. Each part of a project finance deal is addressed in separate chapters.

Myonly criicism is that the author uses the European-favored expansive tableof contents, rather than a detailed index.Yet, the book is so wellorganized that the information is easy to find.

It's clearly the bestlegal and business book on project finance available.It gives me, as abusiness person, a real edge.

Excellent and comprehensive
A well thought out treatise on project finance covering not just the legalissues, but also from a commercial perspective.One of the better books onthe subject ... Read more

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While most current studies on law and politics in Israel focus on the legal aspects of public policymaking within the courts, this book explores the relationship between law and government from a positive perspective. That is to say that the question asked is: how the political relationships between the three branches of government affect public policy and hence social outcomes.

The eleven contributors to this volume concentrate on Israel from theoretical, comparative and critical approaches, and hence the analysis presented could as well be applied to other polities.

This book was published as a special issue of Israel Affairs.

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As governmental entities face accelerating public demand for electronic services and the internal need to utilize technology to achieve superior outcomes and operational efficiency, traditional techniques and tools are radically reshaping and evolving into innovative electronic methods of conducting governmental activities.

E-Government Diffusion, Policy, and Impact: Advanced Issues and Practices sheds light on how e-government technologies are shaping today s knowledge society from the ground roots of the citizen experience to the supreme level of policy and decision making. With chapters providing insights into such critical topics as public service delivery, technological diffusion, and e-readiness, this publication offers researchers, students, policy makers, and practitioners a quality depiction of worldwide social practice and how advancements within the realm of technology will affect all corners of the globe. ... Read more

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Counterterrorism Law is a detailed survey of United States law governing the definition, detection, detention, interrogation, and prosecution of terrorists. Also covered is the availability and legal use of armed force, civil liability, and economic sanctions against terrorism and its state sponsors. A solid fit for an advanced course in National Security Law, Constitutional Law, or Civil Rights, this comprehensive text organizes the rapidly growing body of counterterrorism law into discrete, coherent, and pedagogically efficient segments.

This outstanding text offers an abundance of great features. Specifically, it:


Adapts to multiple learning environments, including seminars and courses with limited class hours;

Covers not only core issues of detention, interrogation and law enforcement, but also related issues such as data-mining, screening, continuity of government, civil liability, targeted killing, and sanctions. ... Read more

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Why have Americans created thousands of new local governments in recent years, a rate much higher than population increases demand? Conflicts over local power--the power to tax, to issue bonds, and to provide services--have produced solutions that are often as ruthless as they are resourceful.

The first text to illustrate the impact of creating new local governments, this compelling study provides an illuminating examination of the nature of local politics today. Skillfully combining case studies, institutional history, and quantitative analyses, Nancy Burns argues that economic interests, states, the federal government, and inventive individuals have changed the parameters of local institutions, thereby changing local politics. Rather than working for change within the existing system, countless groups have created new municipalities and "special districts," local governments that serve private interests more than the public good. Businesses and developers, who tend to initiate and dominate the process, often serve as organizational bases to help allied groups--such as wealthy homeowners--achieve their goals. Because of the autonomy that local governments enjoy in the U.S., the formation of these new governments has had an impact on the quality of life for many Americans. New boundaries, created mostly along race and class lines, determine access to education, housing, and basic services, allowing the privilege of exclusion to accompany the privilege of municipal management. Revealing the place of local institutions in the larger political spectrum, this landmark work offers students of urban politics and political science a unique look at the structural features of American local politics. ... Read more

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The most practical, authoritative guide to federal government auditing

Federal Government Auditing is a comprehensive, easy-to-use guide to the unique requirements of federal government auditing--requirements that can confound you if you don't deal with them every day. This information-packed, single-source reference is ideal for auditors of federal agencies and programs and financial dealings subject to audits by the federal government. It gives you up-to-date information on the applicable laws, regulations, and audit standards.

Written in a non-technical style and complete with helpful exhibits, this guide is a "go-to" reference for government auditors, inspectors general, public accountants, military comptrollers, legislators, state and local government auditors, budget offices, financial managers, and financial analysts. The information also applies to contractors and grantees, universities, and other non-profits and organizations that have repeated financial dealings with the federal government.

Created for both professionals and others performing federal government audits, this concise, yet comprehensive guide:
* Features an easy-to-use format that enables you to pinpoint needed information quickly
* Provides detailed guidance on what, why, how, and by whom federal audits should be made
* Covers federal financial statements, budgeting, accounting, and more
* Covers Sarbanes-Oxley, including background information, the implications for federal audits, OMB, GAO initiatives, Section 404, and more
* Describes the scope and work required in an audit of federal departments and agencies
* Includes real-life examples of federal audits
* Has separate chapters devoted to single audits, performance audits, procurement and contract audits, and grant audits


This resource was written by four CPAs who are Principals and/or Partners at Kearney & Company, a large regional firm that specializes in providing auditing, accounting, and information technology services to the federal government. With their expertise and experience, they condense the copious, complex criteria for federal government auditing into concise, accessible information you'll refer to again and again. ... Read more

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The contemporary U.S. legal culture is marked by ubiquitous battles among various groups attempting to seize control of the law and wield it against others in pursuit of their particular agenda. This battle takes place in administrative, legislative, and judicial arenas at both the state and federal levels. This book identifies the underlying source of these battles in the spread of the instrumental view of law - the idea that law is purely a means to an end - in a context of sharp disagreement over the social good. It traces the rise of the instrumental view of law in the course of the past two centuries, then demonstrates the pervasiveness of this view of law and its implications within the contemporary legal culture, and ends by showing the various ways in which seeing law in purely instrumental terms threatens to corrode the rule of law. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I wish I had read this book long ago
I'm a legal scholar interested in this area though my usual area is corporate and commercial law.This is an excellent book.Although I gather BT has refined his views somewhat since he wrote this, it is I think a very useful and fresh way to look at the course of American jurisprudence, and based on other research I have done, accurate as well.BT has a crisp and unpretentious writing style and his arguments are straightforward.I have not quite finished the book, but based on first 2/3 I am already very glad I picked it up.He is admirably even-handed.At a few points one can tell he leans against more conservative views such as originalism and law & economics, but he does not seem to let this influence his judgments.

I suppose one could criticize that the book could have been more ambitious theoretically, but given that so much legal scholarship these days is failed theory, I am glad it is pitched as it is.The book weighs in at 230+ pages, but would be longer than that in print you could read without glasses.The Kindle edition does not have an active TOC which is unfortunate.

The narrative qualities of the book make it a good read.I think the story it tells is almost tragic, but it is compelling.I wish there had been a book like this to read 25 years ago when I was in law school.It would have made the theoretical muddle I found so frustrating then more understandable, at least in the sense I would have understood how things got to be the mess they were.Very highly recommended.

An Important Critique of the Pragmatic Theory of Judging
Professor Tamanaha makes a very important point here about the pragmatic theory of judging.Pragmatic judging -- an approach advocated most eloquently by Judge Richard Posner in a number of books and other writings -- means in essence that, when faced with an issue that is not clearly resolved by the existing law, the judge should resolve the issue in the way that he or she thinks makes the most sense, all things considered, for the parties and society.This approach obviously gives judges a lot of leeway, since "what makes the most sense" is something that no two people are likely to agree upon.Posner thinks that that is OK because judges do it anyway, and so we might as well be up front about it.

Tamanaha's response is twofold.First, he argues that Posner exaggerates the extent to which judges typically resolve issues according to their private biases instead of what legal reasoning points to as being correct (or most nearly correct).Second, Tamanaha argues that there is a major difference between a judge who says, "I can and should resolve issues based on what I think makes the most sense *except when* the law *clearly resolves* the issue," and a judge who says, "I can and should resolve issues based on what I think makes the most sense *only when* the law *truly does not resolve* the issue."In other words, the pragmatic judge gives himself free rein whenever he can, while the traditional judge gives himself free rein only when there's really no other choice.

This argument is most clearly laid out in the last chapter of "Law as a Means to an End."If you're familiar with the terms of the debate, you could read that chapter by itself with benefit.The rest of the book provides a history of the instrumental view of law and the effects that Tamanaha believes the instrumental view has had on the U.S.The "effects" part of Tamanaha's argument was not totally convincing for me.For example, he argues that the change (roughly around 1900-1940) from a predominantly non-instrumental view of law to a predominantly instrumental view led people to see law as the main way of changing society however they want, by causing the government to change the law.But one could as plausibly argue that it was the explosive growth of legislation and regulation during the same period (for reasons other than a changing philosophy of law) that led people to see government, through its law-making function, as the main way of changing society, and that the instrumental point of view took hold as a result.

In addition, I'm not sure that instrumental vs. non-instrumental is the most accurate way to frame the issues Tamanaha discusses here.Law has always been seen as a means to an end -- as promoting something good outside itself (morality, justice, civil order, etc.).The difference between what Tamanaha calls the non-instrumental and instrumental views is the degree to which those views take law to be malleable.The non-instrumental view sees the means and ends of law as relatively fixed, whereas the instrumental view sees the means and ends as being freely changeable.This does seem to be Tamanaha's real point -- the image he uses to demonstrate instrumental thinking is of the law as an "empty vessel" that law-makers can fill with whatever they want."Instrumentalism" merely seems to me to be an inaccurate way of capturing the debate.

In any event, Tamanaha's overarching argument provides a strong and needed qualification to the pragmatic approach.

... Read more

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This volume examines the welfare economics, political economy, and legal experience in international economic migration, and on the basis of its analysis, suggests the structure of a multilateral framework agreement on international economic migration. ... Read more

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Government's ever-increasing participation in communication processes, Mark Yudof argues, threatens key democratic values that the First Amendment was designed to protect.Government control over the exchange of ideas and information would be inconsistent with citizen autonomy, informed consent, and a balanced and mutually responsive relationship between citizens and their government.Yet the danger of government dominance must be weighed against the necessary role of government in furthering democratic values by proposing and promotion policies and by disseminating information and educating citizens.Restraints on government's ability to control communications processes are desirable, but excessive or inappropriate restrictions threaten democracy.Professor Yudof identifies a number of formal and informal checks on government as disseminator, withholder, and controller of ideas and information.Where more controls are needed, the strengthening of pluralism and legislative oversight is generally the answer.Constitutional redress in the courts should be sought only in extreme instances, he cautions, to avoid judicial interference with legitimate policy objectives. ... Read more

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It is Berger's theory that the United States Supreme Court has embarked on "a continuing revision of the Constitution, under the guise of interpretation", thereby subverting America's democratic institutions and wreaking havoc upon Americans' social and political lives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Got it all wrong
Berger's entire book -- in fact, pretty much his entire intellectual life -- is based on the notion that the Framers of the 14th Amendment never intended that it be applied as the courts have done, incorporating the Bill of Rights into the 14th and making them applicable to the states.Unfortunately for Berger, recent scholarship has proven conclusively that that's exactly what they intended.Check out Michael Kent Curtis' "No State Shall Abridge" or any of the books by Akhil Reed Amar.This isn't a "liberal" claim; the gun rights people relied on it to argue to the Supreme Court that the 2nd Amendment should be applied to the states.

The Best Book in Its Field
Raoul Berger's book is simply the finest work of American legal history there is.It bravely takes up a completely politically incorrect subject and arrives, after exhaustive examination of all of (and only) the relevant sources, at the necessary conclusion.It is written in straightforward prose, and it is simply jammed with fascinating information.Even the footnotes (yes, they are where they belong, NOT at the back of the book) are an intellectual feast.

When I read this book, I was no kind of expert, merely a graduate student in public affairs at the LBJ School at UT-Austin.In a short time, this book literally made a revolution in my outlook.It is extremely powerful, always timely, and worth coming back to again and again.My graduate students in American Constitutional History came to the same conclusion.This is why I relied on it extensively in The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution (Unabridged), where I called it "A Book You're Not Supposed to Read."

Government by Judiciary
~Government by Judiciary: The Transformation of the Fourteenth Amendment~ by jurist Raoul Berger is a serious challenge to the American ideology of judicial nationalism, which has incrementally aggregated the power of interpreting laws, into law-making power itself. The U.S. Supreme Court has become little more than a junior-varsity Congress, prone to innumerable social engineering schemes, and often against the popular will of the American people. The reign of judicial activism was born in a dubious incorporation doctrine. Raoul Berger offers compelling evidence about the intentions animating the intentions of the framers and ratifiers of the original Fourteenth Amendment, and he demonstrates how it did not countenance the present doctrine of incorporation at all.

The States are the most integral ingredient to the federal polity. "The framer's political theory was immediately concerned with organization, not individuals... with principles of power allocation," notes Robert Nagel, and in disapprobation he laments "a widespread pattern that inverts the priorities of the framers; an obsessive concern for using the Constitution to protect individual rights."As jurist Louis Henkin remarked, "the Constitution said remarkably little about rights" since the federal government "was not to be the primary government... governance was left principally to the States."Jurist Michael W. McConnell remarks the "framers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights believed that state governments were, in some vital respects, safer repositories over individual liberties than the federal government." The original Constitution, and its succeeding Bill of Rights, properly construed does not affirm any positive grant of rights at all. Its salient point was that it embodies a limitation upon the powers of the general government by virtue of delegation. The people themselves grant power to the institutions of government, entrusting it with only certain powers requisite for its operation, and trusting it with no more powers than those granted. The Rights of the Englishman antedate the Constitution, which is not presumed to grant people their rights; and indeed the U.S. Bill of Rights opens with the phraseology, "Congress shall make no law..." which itself is a negative. Hence, one of the duties of the federal authority was to refrain from interference with individual rights and leave their preservation to the people in their established communities among the several states.

The problematic incorporation doctrine which was read into the Fourteenth Amendment has arguably turned the whole constitutional structure on its nose. It has acted to solidify the de facto role of the U.S. Supreme Court as the final arbiter of the constitutionality of federal, as well as state legislation.This reality has been much to the detriment of the states and people thereof. For as former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese proclaimed in 1985, "nowhere else has the principle of federalism been dealt so politically violent and constitutionally suspect a blow as by the theory of incorporation."The modern doctrine of incorporation holds that the guarantees of the U.S. Bill of Rights are selectively enforced against the power of state governments. As a result of this spurious heuristic, federal power is then further aggregated around the federal judiciary. In reality, the Bill of Rights was amended to the Constitution as a barrier to national intrusion upon regulating the police powers of the states. The gradual shift towards federally guaranteed civil rights--articulated and arbitrated by the federal judiciary--has resulted in the diminution of rightful state authority in the exercise of its traditional police powers concerning commerce, health, labor, welfare, safety and morals.

The pros to this book are its accuracy and devastating indictment of constitutional law run amok. The con is it is very technical and not so approachable by laypersons, who might find books on the activist judiciary by Mark Levin more approachable and readable. In the past century, the prerogatives of popular control and consent have been egregiously undercut by unaccountable elites within the federal judiciary. The increasing willingness of federal judges to dispense with the traditional rule of law has been a source of alarm to Americans in all quarters of the nation. Activist judges are more apt to impose their ideology and social engineering agenda on society at large. These same judges routinely discard constitutional limitations upon federal power while they needlessly hamstring the states in the legitimate exercise of their police powers. In a rare moment of sober-mindedness, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it "is most vulnerable and comes nearest to illegitimacy when it deals with judge-made constitutional law having little or no cognizable roots in the language or design of the Constitution... Otherwise, the judiciary necessarily takes to itself further to govern the country without express constitutional authority."

Written in '97 and very True Today
This book is very true.There is an old Irish proverb, "The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions".

This book proves it.

Let's take "Brown".Now, is this poster saying that all children are not entitled to a fair education.Of course not!And it's terrible that the courts had to get involved to solve the education issue of allowing children-of-color to attend a white school.If the various governments had acted right then there would have been no reason for the courts to strike down unjust laws regarding race.

However, what is scary about "Brown" is it allows the courts to get involved in the smallest detail of public life.So, the courts were correct in helping minority children attend a school.But, the courts actions do not just stop there.Like a bite of an apples, this books shows instance after instance where the courts continously invent rights for items that were once a state matter, such as land use, or in international matters, such as when the courts were finding rights for terrorists of the IRA.

If anything this book under states the cases of too much judiciary in the goverment.The results are that various groups that make up the plantiffs of the USA have a disproportionate amount of power.Example, the ACLU has defacto established the Christmas policies of the USA with its lawsuits.No vote was ever held that removed the Christmas displays from government.It was all lawsuits.

How will this end?This poster does not know.Perhaps one day the courts will over step their authority, such as in the granting criminal rights to Terrorists at GITMO, and they will be introduced to real power.

Since the writing of this book in 1997 the role of the judiciary has expanded.

This book is four stars, dated, but is still good.

"Brown" Was Wrong: Response to Lewiston
Yes, "Brown" was indeed wrong, if wrongness is judged by adherence to the Constitution, at any rate. More important, the Bill of Rights was never intended to apply to the States, but as a check against the power of the federal government. Berger is entirely consistent with the Constitutional understanding of those checks embodied in the Bill of Rights. Second, there are no such things as "civil rights." Wake up. All rights mentioned in the Constitution, if you assume that the Constitution is what it says it is, are given by a Creator (thus the "Liberty" mentioned in the Constitution is one of that Creator's "Blessings"). "Civil rights" are man-given, and man-taken-away; as such, they are worthless. "Civil rights" is chiefly a shibboleth emanating from the illegal 14th Amendment. In short, the Bill of Rights is not worth the paper it was written on if it were to apply to the States. ... Read more