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Full-Text Articles in Rule of Law
Designing Constitutions For A Lasting Democracy, Donald L. Horowitz, Elisabeth Perham
Designing Constitutions For A Lasting Democracy, Donald L. Horowitz, Elisabeth Perham
Judicature International
No abstract provided.
The Role Of Norms In Modern-Day Government Ethics, Veronica Root Martinez
The Role Of Norms In Modern-Day Government Ethics, Veronica Root Martinez
Faculty Scholarship
Many scholars, policymakers, advocacy groups, members of the media, and citizens-at-large are lamenting the perceived decrease in adherence to norms and ethics by certain government officials over the past few years. Informal mechanisms—whether they be norms, ethics, customs, or a “gentleman’s word”—have long been relied upon to ensure certain standards of behavior within all aspects of society. The American government is no exception. From America’s founding, the rule of law created the backstop for its governmental processes, but the virtue of its leaders remained a constant component of its success. To be fair, the country has seen more than its …
The Original Theory Of Constitutionalism, David Singh Grewal, Jedediah Purdy
The Original Theory Of Constitutionalism, David Singh Grewal, Jedediah Purdy
Faculty Scholarship
The U.S. Constitution embodies a conception of democratic sovereignty that has been substantially forgotten and obscured in today’s commentary. Recovering this original idea of constitution-making shows that today’s originalism is, ironically, unfaithful to its origins in an idea of self-rule that prized both the initial ratification of fundamental law and the political community’s ongoing power to reaffirm or change it. This does not mean, however, that living constitutionalism better fits the original conception of democratic self-rule. Rather, because the Constitution itself makes amendment practically impossible, it all but shuts down the very form of democratic sovereignty that authorizes it. No …