We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court [Hardcover]

Michael J. Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 1999

Several of the most divisive moral conflicts that have beset Americans in the period since World War II have been transmuted into constitutional conflicts and resolved as such. In his new book, eminent legal scholar Michael Perry evaluates the grave charge that the modern Supreme Court has engineered a "judicial usurpation of politics." In particular, Perry inquires which of several major Fourteenth Amendment conflicts--over race segregation, race-based affirmative action, sex-based discrimination, homosexuality, abortion, and physician-assisted suicide--have been resolved as they should have been. He lays the necessary groundwork for his inquiry by addressing questions of both constitutional theory and constitutional history. A clear-eyed examination of some of the perennial controversies in American life, We the People is a major contribution to modern constitutional studies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Valuable. . . . While far from a must-agree, it is definitely a must-read. [Perry's] original contribution is to link Fourteenth Amendment interpretation with democratic theory. In so doing, he manages to break the nexus between review of the record and ratification of personal opinion."--Law and Politics Book Review

"We the People develops a detailed....highly intelligent reading of the Constitution and how to interpret it and its amendments....An excellent complement to law, Civil War, and constitutional interpretation collections for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professionals."--Choice

Perry has written an ambitious, thoughtful, and provocative book that combines theoretical analysis of interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment with nuanced discussions of several specific constitutional cases. It is a worthy addition to the large and diverse scholarly literature on the Fourteenth Amendment.--Perspectives on Politics Science

About the Author

Michael J. Perry holds the University Distinguished Chair in Law at Wake Forest University. From 1982 to 1997, he taught at the Nothwestern University School of Law, where he held the Howard J. Trienens Chair in Law. Perry is the author of several books, including The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries (Oxford, 1998), Religion in Politics: Constitutional and Moral Perspectives (Oxford, 1997), The Constitution in the Courts: Law or Politics? (Oxford, 1994), and Love and Power: The Role of Religion and Morality in American Politics (Oxford, 1991).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019512362X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195123623
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,629,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Week Wasted, January 6, 2005

By 

Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court (Paperback)

I don't normally write bad reviews, but I usually buy all my books based on the reviews of others and as no one has reviewed this book yet, I feel compelled to let readers know that I did not like this book.

To begin with, the authors writing style is deplorable. Constitutional lawyers tend to have a diffcult writing style, but it seems Perry went out of his way to make reading this book a difficult task. He could take a very simple sentence, such as "The boy rode a red bycicle" and turn it into a monstrosity such as "The boy, if in fact, we can be certain, the person in question was a boy, rode, and by that I mean, he sat upon and peddeled, a red, though there are many shades of red, i.e., blood red, ruby red, fire engine red, apple red and so on - here we are talking specifically of a brite red that has dulled somewhat over time - so for our discussion here, we will call it a rusty red, bicycle." You may think this a gross exaggeration, but it is not.

Perry attempts to give justification and support to the Courts use of the Fourteenth Amendment in a wide array of social cases ranging from affirmative action to abortion. He unconvincingly tries to make the case that the Courts have not usurped the Constitution by using the Fourteenth in reaching their decisions.

Perry tries very hard to appear to hold a moderate view of the Courts and the Law, but his conclusions are quite left-leaning. As with most from the left, he cannot contain himself from allowing his true agenda to rise to the top when he goes into one tirade after another lashing out at conservative judges such as Scalia, Bork, Thomas and Thayer. As the book drearily wears on, his conclusions morph from being differing conclusions into being outright viscious attacks.

I have given the book 2 stars because there will be a select reading audience that may enjoy, and would certainly agree with Perry's conclusions, but even those people can easily find books on the subject that are much more enjoyable and informative.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly Written, August 30, 2005

By 

R. Kilmer (Burlington, VT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court (Paperback)

I am a political science major at the University of Vermont, and I recently purchased this book for a class on Constitutional Law. I am fascinated in American Politics and particularly Constitutional Law, so I figured this book would be a great read. Yet it turns out I was completely wrong. While the information and ideas presented in this book are interesting, I found it virtually impossible to read more than ten pages at a time. The reason for this is that Perry's writing style is extremely convoluded and overly complex(not in the positive sense). I would advise against buying this book, unless of course it is required for a course. I also find it in very poor taste for an author to review his own book, which Perry has done in this case.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Read Mr. Rainey's review, January 17, 2005

By 

Ely "Ely" (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We the People: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Supreme Court (Paperback)

I've never written a book review. This is my first one. But I read a lot of them and buy most of my books because of them. I bought this book about a year ago and recently picked it up to try, once more, to read it. When I got frustrated with it, I came here to find out why I bought it in the first place and discovered the battle waged here by the author and Mr. Rainey.

I can only say, I wish Mr. Rainey's review had been here last year. I would have saved my money. He is not exaggerating when he says the authors writing style is "deplorable". This book may contain some great information, but it has never been able to hold my attention for more than a few minutes at a time.