American constitutionalism : from theory to politics

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. American Constitutionalism
2. The Constitution and Political Institutions
3. Judicial Review and American Democracy
4. Problems of Constitutional Adjudication
5. Theories of Constitutional Interpretation
6. Constitutional Crisis and Reform.

Despite the outpouring of works on constitutional theory in the past several decades, no general introduction to the field has been available. Stephen Griffin provides here an original contribution to American constitutional theory in the form of a short, lucid introduction to the subject for scholars and an informed lay audience. He surveys in an unpolemical way the theoretical issues raised by judicial practice in the United States over the past three centuries, particularly since the Warren Court, and locates both theory and practices that have inspired dispute among jurists and scholars in historical context. At the same time he advances an argument about the distinctive nature of American constitutionalism, regarding it as an instance of the interpenetration of law and politics. American Constitutionalism is unique in considering the perspectives of both law and political science in relation to constitutional theory.