Gerald N. Rosenberg
Teoksen The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? tekijä
Tietoja tekijästä
Gerald N. Rosenberg is associate professor of political science and lecturer of law at the University of Chicago
Image credit: University of Chicago (faculty page)
Tekijän teokset
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Syntymäaika
- 1954
- Sukupuoli
- male
- Ammatit
- Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
Lecturer in Law, University of Chicago
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
Palkinnot
Tilastot
- Teokset
- 2
- Jäseniä
- 131
- Suosituimmuussija
- #154,467
- Arvio (tähdet)
- 3.9
- Kirja-arvosteluja
- 2
- ISBN:t
- 10
Is it possible for the courts to bring about political and social reform?
Efforts to use the courts to bring about significant changes in social issues such as civil rights, abortion, and women’s rights were largely futile, asserts the author, suggesting that the courts are not the real instrument of social change. Rather, conscious deliberation and choice lie at the center of moral issues and social change.
Comparing the Constrained Court [weak, ineffective, powerless] and the Dynamic Court [vigorous, powerful, proponents of change], the author suggests that change from the courts is dependent upon the bounded nature of constitutional rights, the lack of independence from other branches of the government in order to bring about significant social reform, and the lack of the tools to develop appropriate policies and implement decisions regarding social reform.
A study of Brown vs. the Board of Education [1954] shows that the court’s decision had virtually no effect in actually implementing its decision. In fact, it took several actions outside of the court for school segregation to become the norm. First, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, followed the next year by the Voting Rights Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The result of these actions was that significant progress in implementing the decisions of the Brown case took place. Following the 1954 decision, there was negligible change in desegregating schools; when, in 1965, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare tied funding to desegregating the schools, the move to desegregate was swift.
The text, supplemented with graphs, tables, and charts, also includes several appendices, case references, notes, and other references. Sections include Civil Rights, Abortion, The Environment, Reapportionment, and Criminal Law, and Same-Sex Marriage.
Readers may find the limited power of the court to be a bit surprising, but there is much to consider for those interested in making changes to current policy.
Recommended.… (lisätietoja)