Law Commons^™

Epilogue: Some Sober Second Thoughts, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

No abstract provided.

The Road To Mass Democracy: Original Intent And The Seventeenth Amendment, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

Until 1913 and passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, US senators were elected by state legislatures, not directly by the people. Progressive Era reformers urged this revision in answer to the corruption of state "machines" under the dominance of party bosses. They also believed that direct elections would make the Senate more responsive to popular concerns regarding the concentrations of business, capital, and labor that in the industrial era gave rise to a growing sense of individual voicelessness. Popular control over the higher affairs of government was thought to be possible, since the spread of information …

The Paradox Of Popular Sovereignty: An Introductory Essay, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

No abstract provided.

Democracy And Renewed Distrust: Equal Protection And The Evolving Judicial Conception Of Politics, Bertrall L. Ross

Bertrall L Ross

Judicial interpretations of the Equal Protection Clause have undergone a major transformation over the last fifty years. A Supreme Court once suspicious of the democratic losses of discrete and insular minorities, now closely scrutinizes their democratic victories. A Court once active in structuring the democratic process to be inclusive of racial and other minorities, now views minority representation in the political process as essentially irrelevant. A Court once deferential to exercises of congressional power that enhanced the equal protection rights of minorities, now gives Congress much less leeway.

What explains these shifts? An easy explanation is that the Supreme Court …

Democratizing The Constitution: The Failure Of The Seventeenth Amendment, Christopher H. Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

No abstract provided.

The Road To Mass Democracy: Original Intent And The Seventeenth Amendment, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

No abstract provided.

Whose Common Good? Racism In The Political Community, Stephen M. Feldman

Stephen M. Feldman

Political pluralists and civic republicans have launched constitutional and political theory into a controversy of paradigmatic proportions. Pluralists insist that politics is no more than a struggle between autonomous and rational individuals or groups who strive to satisfy their preexisting private interests. Civic republicans argue instead that the government should pursue the common good, not preexisting private interests. Something vital is missing from this debate: a recognition of and confrontation with American racism. In the context of American society, no constitutional or political theory can succeed without a comprehensive awareness and understanding of racism. The Constitution must be understood, interpreted, …