Federalism, the Supreme Court, and the Seventeenth Amendment: The Irony of Constitutional Democracy

Author:   Ralph A. Rossum ,  Professor of American Constitutionalism, Claremont McKenna College, USA)
Publisher:   Lexington Books
ISBN:  

9780739102862


Pages:   312
Publication Date:   06 November 2001
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Federalism, the Supreme Court, and the Seventeenth Amendment: The Irony of Constitutional Democracy


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Overview

"Abraham Lincoln worried that the ""walls"" of the constitution would ultimately be levelled by the ""silent artillery of time"". His fears materialized with the 1913 ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment which eliminated federalism's structural protection, altering the very nature and meaning of federalism. This is the argument of Ralph A. Rossum's book in which he considers the forces unleashed by an amendment to install the direct election of US senators. Far from expecting federalism to be protected by an activist court, the framers, Rossum argues, expected the constitutional structure, and particularly election of the Senate by state legislatures, to sustain it. Rossum challenges the fundamental jurisprudential assumptions about federalism and provides an indictment of the controversial federalist decisions recently handed down by an activist US Supreme Court seeking to fill the gap created by the Seventeenth Amendment's ratification and protect the original federal design. Rossum argues that it is the ultimate irony of constitutional democracry that an amendment intended to promote democracy, even at the expense of federalism, has been been undermined by an activist court intent on protecting federalism, at the expense of democracy."

Full Product Details

Author:   Ralph A. Rossum ,  Professor of American Constitutionalism, Claremont McKenna College, USA)
Publisher:   Lexington Books
Imprint:   Lexington Books
Dimensions:   Width: 14.80cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.20cm
Weight:   0.481kg
ISBN:  

9780739102862


ISBN 10:   0739102869
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   06 November 2001
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Ralph Rossum presents us with an arresting thesis. By providing a new perspective on the role of the courts in dealing with the recurring issues surrounding the Framers' vision of federalism, it is bound to engender debate of the highest order in the years to come. It will prove especially challenging for those of my persuasion who would like to check the growing centralization of power in Washington.--Carey, George W.


Author Information

Ralph A. Rossum is Director of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government and Professor of American Constitutionalism at Claremont McKenna College. He is author of seven books, including American Constitutional Law, (with G. Alan Tarr).

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