Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court Vs. the American People

A set of essays that try to improve on the liberal mantra of trusting the courts to expand rights. Some essays are preaching to the converted- that is, they are unlikely to persuade anybody to the right of Raskin. But there are some essays I really liked. I especially liked Chapters 5 and 6 (in which Raskin shows how government has impaired democracy by keeping third parties off the ballot and out of debates, and criticizes judicial deference to the two-party duopoly) and Chapter 9 (in which he criticizes attempts to amend the Constitution to prohibit flag-burning, pointing out (a) that an anti-desecration law might actually encourage people to burn flags to get publicity, and (b) that an anti-desceration law that allows nonpolitical destruction of used flags but outlaws flag burning by political extremists is essentially thought control, in that it would prohibit flag burning only by people with political messages to convey). Other chapters are much more touchy-feely. For example, in Chapter 7, Raskin defends school busing on the grounds that racially integrated schools make society more "democratic"- but parents hardly feel like part of a democracy if unelected judges are telling their children where to go to school. Raskin proposes an amendment providing: "All children in the United States have a right to receive an equal public education for democratic citizenship." But the uncertainty of the concept of "equality" would give judges carte blanche to dictate virtually any concievable policy. "Democracy" is a vague concept; some people see democracy as majority rule, others see democracy as at least partially about liberty or equality. On issues dealing purely with the former, Raskin's book is excellent. On issues dealing with possible conflicts between these meanings of democracy, Raskin understandably has more difficulty.

Raskin does an excellent job in showing how the Supreme Court has slowly eroded our individual rights guarenteed under the Constitution of the United States. It is frightening that most people don't even realize what is actually going on in our government. The only flaw in Raskins book is that he doesn't show how the average citizen can get involved in stopping this erosion of our Constitution or to get involved with his idea of Constituional Convention to change and improve this great document.

Jamin Raskin is one of the most brilliant constitutional scholars of our time. His arguments are as bullet-proof as they are engaging. It's a must read for anyone interested in the Supreme Court.

This book is extremely useful ammunition for all of us who argue with smug right-wingers. Raskin gets down to the nitty-gritty of what happened in Florida, and what's been happening for 30 years on the Supreme Court. Get this guy on the Supreme Court, already!