The Supreme Court and Election Law: Judging Equality from Baker v. Carr to Bush v. Gore - Softcover

Hasen, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814736912 ISBN 13: 9780814736913

Publisher: NYU Press, 2006

Synopsis

In the first comprehensive study of election law since the Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore, Richard L. Hasen rethinks the Court's role in regulating elections. Drawing on the case files of the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist courts, Hasen roots the Court's intervention in political process cases to the landmark 1962 case, Baker v. Carr. The case opened the courts to a variety of election law disputes, to the point that the courts now control and direct major aspects of the American electoral process. The Supreme Court does have a crucial role to play in protecting a socially constructed 'core' of political equality principles, contends Hasen, but it should leave contested questions of political equality to the political process itself. Under this standard, many of the Court's most important election law cases from Baker to Bush have been wrongly decided.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard L. Hasen is Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law.

Review:

“Hasen engagingly draws on internal Court deliberations, as well as political science and legal theory, to assess and criticize dramatic transformations in the role of constitutional law in overseeing the structure of democracy. The Supreme Court and Election Law will interest all those concerned with understanding the relationship between constitutional law and democracy in struggles over how contested ideals of political equality should inform the design of democratic institutions."”
-Richard H. Pildes,NYU School of Law

“A pioneering study of the Court's increasing efforts to regulate the US political system. Hasen addresses both issues of legal doctrine and political science in his sweeping look at the Court's positions on such issues as the status of political parties, voting rights, redistricting, balloting procedures, and campaign finance reform.”
-Bruce Cain,University of California, Berkeley

“Hasen masterfully distills complex legal doctrines and sophisticated political theory into a succinct analysis filled with practical wisdom. Challenging the prevailing view of Bush v. Gore as an aberration, he shows that it is simply another patch in the crazy-quilt constitutional law of elections. Anyone who cares about American democracy should read this original, important, and thought-provoking book.”
-Robert J. Pushaw,Pepperdine University School of Law

“Hasen provides a citizen's guide to the Court's decisions and offers an innovative proposal, contrary to many lawyers’ predispositions, saying why (and when) the Court should intervene but give little guidance to the people devising the laws that regulate our elections. This is a provocative analysis that deserves thorough consideration.”
-Mark Tushnet,Georgetown University Law Center

“A major contribution to the field of election law.”
-Thomas E. Mann,The Brookings Institution

About this edition

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0814736912
• ISBN 13: 9780814736913
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 227