| Description |
1 online resource (viii, 333 pages) |
| Contents |
Against political obligation -- Accommodating our plural obligations -- Against interpretive obligation to the past -- Against interpretive obligation to the Supreme Court |
| Summary |
Do citizens of a nation such as the United States have a moral duty to obey the law? Do officials, when interpreting the Constitution, have an obligation to follow what that text meant when ratified? To follow precedent? To follow what the Supreme Court today says the Constitution means?These are questions of political obligation (for citizens) and interpretive obligation (for anyone interpreting the Constitution, often officials). Abner Greene argues that such obligations do not exist. Although citizens should obey some laws entirely, and other laws in some instances, no one has put forth a successful argument that citizens should obey all laws all the time. Greene's case is not only "against" obligation. It is also "for" an approach he calls "permeable sovereignty": all of our norms are on equal footing with the state's laws. Accordingly, the state should accommodate religious, philosophical, family, or tribal norms whenever possible. Greene shows that questions of interpretive obligation share many qualities with those of political obligation. In rejecting the view that constitutional interpreters must follow either prior or higher sources of constitutional meaning, Greene confronts and turns aside arguments similar to those offered for a moral duty of citizens to obey the law |
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Greene argues that citizens are not morally obligated to obey the law and that officials need not follow prior or higher authority when reading the Constitution. The sources of authority in a liberal democracy are multiple--the law must compete with other norms. Constitutional meaning is not locked in, historically or by the Supreme Court |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-321) and index |
| Notes |
English |
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Print version record |
| Subject |
Obedience (Law)
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Effectiveness and validity of law.
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Law -- Moral and ethical aspects
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Constitutional law -- United States.
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LAW -- Natural Law.
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PHILOSOPHY -- Political.
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Constitutional law
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Effectiveness and validity of law
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Law -- Moral and ethical aspects
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Obedience (Law)
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Bürger
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Bindung an Gesetz und Recht
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Verfassungskonforme Gesetzesauslegung
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Bindungswirkung
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Gesetz
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United States
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| LC no. |
2011041053 |
| ISBN |
9780674069398 |
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0674069390 |
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9780674065178 |
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0674065174 |
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