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Interpreting State Constitutions examines and proposes a solution to a problem central to contemporary debates over the enforcement of civil liberties: how courts, government officials, and lawyers should go about interpreting the constitutions of the American states.

With the Supreme Court's retreat from the aggressive protection of individual rights, state courts have begun to interpret state constitutions to provide broader protection of liberties. This development has reversed the polarity of constitutional politics, as liberals advocate unimpeded state power while conservatives lobby for state subordination to a constitutional law controlled centrally by the Supreme Court.

James A. Gardner here lays out the first fully developed theory of subnational constitutional interpretation. He argues that states are integral components of a national system of overlapping and mutually checking authority and that the purpose of this system is to protect liberty and defend against federal domination. The resulting account provides valuable prescriptive advice to state courts, showing them how to fulfill their responsibilities to the federal system in a way that strengthens American constitutional discourse.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface
• Introduction - The Problem of State Constitutional Interpretation
• 1 The Emergence of the Modern Debate
• 2 The Dead End of Romantic Subnationalism
• 3 The Mechanics of Federalism
• 4 State Constitutions in the Federal Scheme
• 5 Patterns of Distrust
• 6 A Functional Account of State Judicial Power
• 7 An Approach to State Constitutional Interpretation
• Afterword - Function and Interpretation
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index

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CHOICE Review

As a law professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Gardner is well qualified to prepare this volume on interpreting American state constitutions. He is also the author of Legal Argument: The Structure and Language of Effective Advocacy (1993) and editor of State Expansion of Federal Constitutional Liberties. The volume is based in the important reality that, while the US Supreme Court is no longer an aggressive supporter of civil rights and liberties, many state courts, using their own state constitutions, have begun to fill this void. Gardner discusses the ideal role of the state courts in the protection of civil liberties and outlines how the proper use of state constitutions can prevent "federal domination." The book may be compared to Respecting State Courts: The Inevitability of Judicial Federalism by Michael E. Solimine and James L. Walker (CH, Jun'03, 37-5957) and State Constitutional Law in a Nutshell by Thomas C. Marks Jr. and John F. Cooper (1988, 2d ed. 2003). The volume is clearly written, has an excellent bibliography, and contains a comprehensive, useful index. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. R. A. Carp University of Houston

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

James A. Gardner is professor at the State University of New York, University at Buffalo Law School. He is the author of L egal Argument: The Structure and Language of Effective Advocacy and editor of State Expansion of Federal Constitutional Liberties: Individual Rights in a Dual Constitutional System.