Summary: Active Liberty E-Book

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• Herausgeber: Political Book Summaries
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 16

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The must-read summary of Stephen Breyer's book: "Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution".

This complete summary of "Active Liberty" by Stephen Breyer, a liberal-leaning Supreme Court Justice in the United States, outlines the author's argument that the American Constitution should be used as a guide for the application of American principles. He highlights the fact that the Constitution must not be rigid but adapt to the needs of society, and that American citizens should have more participation in the shaping of the country's laws, a principle which requires more deference to Congress and judicial modesty.

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Gain understanding of the American Constitution and its implications
• Expand your knowledge of American politics and society

To learn more, read "Active Liberty" and discover Breyer's views on active liberty and the role of the Constitution in the modern age.

Leseprobe

Book Presentation: Active Liberty by Stephen G. Breyer

Book Abstract

In this book, Justice Stephen Breyer defines the term “active liberty” as a sharing of the nation’s sovereign authority with its citizens. Regarding the Constitution as a guide for the application of basic American principles to a living and changing society rather than as an arsenal of rigid legal means for binding and restricting it, Justice Breyer argues that the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems.

Giving examples of this approach in the areas of free speech, privacy, affirmative action, statutory interpretation and administrative law, Justice Breyer states that courts should take greater account of the Constitution’s democratic nature when they interpret constitutional and statutory texts and he insists that the people can and must develop the experience necessary to govern their own affairs.

About the Author

Stephen Breyer is an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the bench in 1994 by President Clinton and has acquired a reputation as a moderate jurist who believes our democratic system of government is best served by judicial restraint. Active Liberty is based on the Tanner Lectures on Human Values, which Breyer delivered at Harvard University in 2004.

Summary of Active Liberty (Stephen G. Breyer)

Introduction

The United States Constitution is a guide for applying American principles to a living and changing society. The genius of the Constitution lies not in any static meaning it may have had when it was originally written, but in its adaptability to contemporary legal and social dilemmas. Thus, the philosophical approach to reading the Constitution known as “Originalism” – which insists on a highly literal approach – often fails to capture the democratic aims, which the Constitution embodies.