No Litmus Test: Law versus Politics in the Twenty-First Century [Paperback]

Michael C. Dorf (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0742550303 | ISBN-13: 978-0742550308 | Publication Date: March 3, 2006

The courts and, indeed, the law itself are under assault from both right and left. Conservatives denounce what they see as liberal judicial activism in decisions involving abortion, gay rights, and the separation of church and state. They seek judges who will 'apply' rather than 'make' the law.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Written to be accessible to the intelligent layman while broadening even the seasoned expert's understanding, Michael Dorf's colorful, creative and invariably clear analyses of the most vexing constitutional controversies of our time add up to a compelling case for an approach to law and to judging that rejects the extremes of both right and left -- and emerges with a position more reasonable and reasoned than either and both more interesting, and more surprising, than a simple average of the two. (Tribe, Laurence H. )

Professor Dorf strives for fairness throughout, arguing against fetishizing the law at the cost of losing valuable nonlegal perspectives. (Harvard Law Review, March 2007 )

A distinguished law professor shows that law is--and must be--something more than politics by other means. Using contemporary examples, many of which the reader will find familiar, the author teases out a remarkably coherent theory of principled judging. This splendid effort takes the reader beyond hollow labels such as "judicial activist" and "strict constructionist" and gives important insights into the kind of thinking that we should look for in a federal judge or justice (Alex Kozinski )

About the Author

Michael C. Dorf is the Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law at Columbia University School of Law. He is the editor of Constitutional Law Stories (2004) and coauthor, with Laurence H. Tribe, of On Reading the Constitution (1991). He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (1991-1992) and Judge Stephen Reinhardt of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1990-1991).

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (March 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742550303
• ISBN-13: 978-0742550308
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,804,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Democratizing Legal Doctrine, May 31, 2006

By 

James kent - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Litmus Test: Law versus Politics in the Twenty-First Century (Paperback)

This book is a great purchase for the layperson looking to understand legal doctrine and its interrelation and autonomy from workaday politics.
By applying legal analysis to political controversies and political insights into legal questions, Professor Dorf democratizes the law in a way that allows access without loss of nuance while reminding legal professionals and students why the law really is relevant. In short, any enjoyable and edifying book for law students, lawyers, and the myriad friends and family that are prone to asking for that explanation which the former groups can never quite give without further obscuring the Law.