The U.S. Supreme Court and Contemporary Constitutional Law: The Obama Era and Its Legacy

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Publisher : Nomos Verlag
ISBN 13 : 384528949X
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (452 download)

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Book Synopsis The U.S. Supreme Court and Contemporary Constitutional Law: The Obama Era and Its Legacy by : Anna-Bettina Kaiser

Download or read book The U.S. Supreme Court and Contemporary Constitutional Law: The Obama Era and Its Legacy written by Anna-Bettina Kaiser and published by Nomos Verlag. This book was released on 2018-12-10 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Der Oberste Gerichtshof der USA hat gerade während der Regierungszeit Barack Obamas das amerikanische Verfassungsrecht durch mehrere wegweisende Urteile neu geprägt. Der vorliegende Band vereint Beiträge renommierter Verfassungsrechtler aus den USA und Europa, die die Entwicklungen während der Obama-Regierung und ihre anhaltende Bedeutung rekonstruieren, analysieren und erklären.

The Legacy of Barack Obama

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Publisher : Good Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 155 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (596 download)

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Book Synopsis The Legacy of Barack Obama by : Barack Obama

Download or read book The Legacy of Barack Obama written by Barack Obama and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2023-12-29 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During his years in office, from 2009 to 2017, Barack Obama signed more landmark legislation than any Democratic president since Lyndon Baines Johnson. This collection presents the legacy of Barack Obama through his presidential work and the legislation of his administration. The edition honors his achievements, the determined efforts despite the resistance and his long lasting influence: Table of Contents: Inaugural Speeches First Inaugural Address (2009) Second Inaugural Address (2013) Main Accomplishments Health Care Climate and Energy American Leadership Economic Progress Equality & Social Progress Executive Orders Presidential Records Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities Review of Detention Policy Options Ensuring Enforcement and Implementation of Abortion Restrictions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking in Persons in Federal Contracts Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade Implementing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States for 2015-2020 Delegation of Certain Authorities and Assignment of Certain Functions Under the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 Amendment to Executive Order 13673 Developing an Integrated Global Engagement Center To Support Government-wide Counterterrorism Communications Activities Directed Abroad and Revoking Executive Order 13584 International Agreements & Treaties New START Paris Agreement Farwell Address

Constitutional Law and Precedent

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000589994
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Constitutional Law and Precedent by : Monika Florczak-Wątor

Download or read book Constitutional Law and Precedent written by Monika Florczak-Wątor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-30 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection examines case-based reasoning in constitutional adjudication; that is, how courts decide on constitutional cases by referring to their own prior case law and the case law of other national, foreign, and international courts. Argumentation based on judicial authority is now fundamental to the resolution of constitutional disputes. At the same time, it is the most common form of reasoning used by courts. This volume shows not only the strengths and weaknesses of such argumentation, but also its serious methodological shortcomings. The book is comparative in nature, with individual chapters examining similar problems that different courts have resolved in different ways. The research covers three types of courts; namely the civil law constitutional courts of Germany, Italy, Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary; the common law supreme courts of the United States, Canada, and Australia; and the European international courts represented by the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. The authors are distinguished scholars from various countries who specialise in constitutional justice issues. This book will be of interest to legal theorists and practitioners, and will be especially insightful for constitutional court judges. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Mobilization, Representation, and Responsiveness in the American Democracy

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Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030247929
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis Mobilization, Representation, and Responsiveness in the American Democracy by : Michael T. Oswald

Download or read book Mobilization, Representation, and Responsiveness in the American Democracy written by Michael T. Oswald and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-09-30 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume investigates America’s transforming democracy as it faces the challenges and developments of the 21st century—challenges and developments that have brought deep dissatisfaction, cultural fragmentation, and economic indignation. Although political power remains in the hands of the people, a fundamental incapability to compromise has locked policymakers in a permanent stalemate. In this legislative paralysis, grassroots movements build more and more momentum amidst regular protests and civil disobedience. This new political vigor and dynamism is dualistic, portending either a future of falsehoods and authoritarianism or a more empowering and direct form of democracy. This book ultimately seeks to understand how the US government is frantically adjusting to these sharp cultural, technological, and economic changes.

Encounters between Foreign Relations Law and International Law

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108837743
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (88 download)

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Book Synopsis Encounters between Foreign Relations Law and International Law by : Helmut Philipp Aust

Download or read book Encounters between Foreign Relations Law and International Law written by Helmut Philipp Aust and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-03 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh look at the bridges and boundaries between foreign relations law and public international law.

Responsive Judicial Review

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192689711
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (926 download)

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Book Synopsis Responsive Judicial Review by : Rosalind Dixon

Download or read book Responsive Judicial Review written by Rosalind Dixon and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-18 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic dysfunction can arise in both 'at risk' and well-functioning constitutional systems. It can threaten a system's responsiveness to both minority rights claims and majoritarian constitutional understandings. Responsive Judicial Review aims to counter this dysfunction using examples from both the global north and global south, including leading constitutional courts in the US, UK, Canada, India, South Africa, and Colombia, as well as select aspects of the constitutional jurisprudence of courts in Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, and Korea. In this book, Dixon argues that courts should adopt a sufficiently 'dialogic' approach to countering relevant democratic blockages and look for ways to increase the actual and perceived legitimacy of their decisions—through careful choices about their framing, and the timing and selection of cases. By orienting judicial choices about constitutional construction toward promoting democratic responsiveness, or toward countering forms of democratic monopoly, blind spots, and burdens of inertia, judicial review helps safeguard a constitutional system's responsiveness to democratic majority understandings. The idea of 'responsive' judicial review encourages courts to engage with their own distinct institutional position, and potential limits on their own capacity and legitimacy. Dixon further explores the ways that this translates into the embracing of a 'weakened' approach to judicial finality, compared to the traditional US-model of judicial supremacy, as well as a nuanced approach to the making of judicial implications, a 'calibrated' approach to judicial scrutiny or judgments about proportionality, and an embrace of 'weak – strong' rather than wholly weak or strong judicial remedies. Not all courts will be equally well-placed to engage in review of this kind, or successful at doing so. For responsive judicial review to succeed, it must be sensitive to context-specific limitations of this kind. Nevertheless, the idea of responsive judicial review is explicitly normative and aspirational: it aims to provide a blueprint for how courts should think about the practice of judicial review as they strive to promote and protect democratic constitutional values.

The Obama Legacy

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Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700627901
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis The Obama Legacy by : Bert A. Rockman

Download or read book The Obama Legacy written by Bert A. Rockman and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2019-05-31 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Hope” and “change” were the keywords of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, and in his farewell address on January 10, 2017, he cited the evidence that he’d delivered—from reversing the Great Recession, rebooting the auto industry, and unleashing the longest stretch of job creation in the nation’s history to winning marriage equality and securing the right to health insurance for another 20 million citizens. At the same time, and with a view to the country’s divisive polarization, he made a plea for “the decency of our people” and “the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now.” In hindsight, it is increasingly possible to understand whether and how Obama’s legacy matched his rhetoric as well as to evaluate from various angles what his presidency accomplished and what this has meant for US politics, public policy, and civic life going forward. In The Obama Legacy some of the leading observers and scholars of US politics take up this challenge. In twelve essays these writers examine Obama’s choices, operating style, and opportunities taken and missed as well as the institutional and political constraints on the president’s policy agenda. What were Obama’s personal characteristics as a leader? What were the policy aspirations, output, and strategy of his presidency? What was his role as a political and public leader to the various constituencies needed to generate presidential power? And how did his presidency interact with other political forces? Addressing these questions and others, the authors analyze Obama’s preferences, tactics, successes, and shortcomings with an eye toward balancing the personal and institutional factors that underlie each—all the while considering how resilient or fragile Obama’s legacy will be in the face of the Trump administration’s eager efforts to dismantle it.

Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1410 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary

Download or read book Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 1410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Looking Back on President Barack Obama’s Legacy

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3030015459
Total Pages : 263 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (3 download)

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Book Synopsis Looking Back on President Barack Obama’s Legacy by : Wilbur C. Rich

Download or read book Looking Back on President Barack Obama’s Legacy written by Wilbur C. Rich and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-12 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When President Barack Hussein Obama left office January 20, 2017, he left a fascinating legacy. The Obama Presidency will remain an intriguing part of our nation’s political history, and we can now say that there were unexpected achievements and failures. His tenure was both historical and complex, and will inevitably be compared with his predecessors and successors. The chapters in this volume are a serious assessment of President Obama’s tenure written by a diverse team that includes political scientists, sociologists, historians, and economists. They provide critical insights into the man and his policies and, more importantly, are written in a manner that makes them available to laypersons, journalists, students, and scholars.

Legacy of the Crash

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 023034349X
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (33 download)

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Book Synopsis Legacy of the Crash by : T. Casey

Download or read book Legacy of the Crash written by T. Casey and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-09-02 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the global financial system crashed, governments in America and Britain performed the greatest bailout in history. The legacy is record government debt, low growth and a new era of austerity. A stellar cast of contributors, including Tim Bale, Wyn Grant and Graham Wilson provide a sophisticated account of how the administrations are faring.

The Blessings of Liberty

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 1442259930
Total Pages : 575 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis The Blessings of Liberty by : Michael Les Benedict

Download or read book The Blessings of Liberty written by Michael Les Benedict and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-09-30 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This concise, accessible text provides students with a history of American constitutional development in the context of political, economic, and social change. Constitutional historian Michael Benedict stresses the role that the American people have played over time in defining the powers of government and the rights of individuals and minorities. He covers important trends and events in U.S. constitutional history, encompassing key Supreme Court and lower-court cases. The volume begins by discussing the English and colonial origins of American constitutionalism. Following an analysis of the American Revolution's meaning to constitutional history, the text traces the Constitution's evolution from the Early Republic to the present day. This third edition is updated to include the election of 2000, the Tea Party and the rise of popular constitutionalism, and the rise of judicial supremacy as seen in cases such as Citizens United, the Affordable Care Act, and gay marriage.

Constitutional Law

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Publisher : Aspen Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1543838510
Total Pages : 1589 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Constitutional Law by : Geoffrey R. Stone

Download or read book Constitutional Law written by Geoffrey R. Stone and published by Aspen Publishing. This book was released on 2023-02-16 with total page 1589 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Constitutional Law, Ninth Edition by Geoffrey R. Stone, Louis M. Seidman, Cass R. Sunstein, Mark V. Tushnet, Pamela S. Karlan, Aziz Z. Huq, and Leah M. Litman guides students through all facets of constitutional law, exploring traditional constitutional doctrine through the lens of varying critical and social perspectives informed by political theory, philosophy, sociology, ethics, history, and economics. Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook with Study Center on CasebookConnect, including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities; practice questions from your favorite study aids; an outline tool and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes. Constitutional Law, Ninth Editiontakes a comprehensive approach to the way in which constitutional law arises. It offers instructors carefully edited cases and rich, interdisciplinary material for classroom discussion. Logically organized for a two-semester course, the first part of Constitutional Law tackles issues concerning separation of powers and federalism; the second part addresses all facets of individual rights and liberties. Constitutional Law, Ninth Edition, also provides thoughtfully selected content on the First Amendment, to give students a well-rounded understanding of religion and free speech issues. New to the Ninth Edition: Extensively revised treatment of the Religion Clauses. Revamped material on abortion rights given Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. More focused and tightened presentation of judicial review, federalism, and other areas. Professors and students will benefit from: The text’s attention to policy, including discussion of competing critical and social perspectives. An interdisciplinary approach that draws on political theory, philosophy, sociology, ethics, history, and economics. Thoughtful editing, including both lightly and more tightly edited cases, that balances close textual analysis with comprehensive converge of important opinions and pivotal cases. Streamlined treatment of First Amendment law, so that it efficiently provides the necessary fundamentals in free speech and religious liberties jurisprudence. A comprehensive coverage that is ideal for a two-semester course.

After Obama

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Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 1479818038
Total Pages : 418 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

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Book Synopsis After Obama by : Todd C. Shaw

Download or read book After Obama written by Todd C. Shaw and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the complicated political legacy of our first black president Written during the presidency of Donald Trump, After Obama examines the impact President Barack Obama and his administration have continued to have upon African American politics. In this comprehensive volume, Todd C. Shaw, Robert A. Brown, and Joseph P. McCormick II bring together more than a dozen scholars to explore his complex legacy, including his successes, failures, and contradictions. Contributors focus on a wide range of topics, including how President Obama affected aspects of African American politics, how his public policies influenced the quality of Black citizenship and life, and what future administrations can learn from his experiences. They also examine the present-day significance of Donald Trump in relation to African American politics. A timely and thorough work, After Obama provides the first examination of the Obama administration in its entirety, and the lasting impact it has had on African American politics.

The Forgotten Presidents

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199967806
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis The Forgotten Presidents by : Michael J. Gerhardt

Download or read book The Forgotten Presidents written by Michael J. Gerhardt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Their names linger in memory mainly as punch lines, synonyms for obscurity: Millard Fillmore, Chester Arthur, Calvin Coolidge. They conjure up not the White House so much as a decaying middle school somewhere in New Jersey. But many forgotten presidents, writes Michael J. Gerhardt, were not weak or ineffective. They boldly fought battles over constitutional principles that resonate today. Gerhardt, one of our leading legal experts, tells the story of The Forgotten Presidents. He surveys thirteen administrations in chronological order, from Martin Van Buren to Franklin Pierce to Jimmy Carter, distinguishing political failures from their constitutional impact. Again and again, he writes, they defied popular opinion to take strong stands. Martin Van Buren reacted to an economic depression by withdrawing federal funds from state banks in an attempt to establish the controversial independent treasury system. His objective was to shrink the federal role in the economy, but also to consolidate his power to act independently as president. Prosperity did not return, and he left office under the shadow of failure. Grover Cleveland radically changed his approach in his second (non-consecutive) term. Previously he had held back from interference with lawmakers; on his return to office, he aggressively used presidential power to bend Congress to his will. Now seen as an asterisk, Cleveland consolidated presidential authority over appointments, removals, vetoes, foreign affairs, legislation, and more. Jimmy Carter, too, proves surprisingly significant. In two debt-ceiling crises and battles over the Panama Canal treaty, affirmative action, and the First Amendment, he demonstrated how the presidency's inherent capacity for efficiency and energy gives it an advantage in battles with Congress, regardless of popularity. Gerhardt explains the many things these and ten other presidents have in common that explain why, in spite of any of their excesses, they have become forgotten chief executives. Incisive, myth-shattering, and compellingly written, this book shows how even obscure presidents championed the White House's prerogatives and altered the way we interpret the Constitution.

The Long Reach of the Sixties

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199958238
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis The Long Reach of the Sixties by : Laura Kalman

Download or read book The Long Reach of the Sixties written by Laura Kalman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-05 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Warren Court of the 1950s and 1960s was the most liberal in American history. Yet within a few short years, new appointments redirected the Court in a more conservative direction, a trend that continued for decades. However, even after Warren retired and the makeup of the court changed, his Court cast a shadow that extends to our own era. In The Long Reach of the Sixties, Laura Kalman focuses on the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Presidents Johnson and Nixon attempted to dominate the Court and alter its course. Using newly released--and consistently entertaining--recordings of Lyndon Johnson's and Richard Nixon's telephone conversations, she roots their efforts to mold the Court in their desire to protect their Presidencies. The fierce ideological battles--between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches--that ensued transformed the meaning of the Warren Court in American memory. Despite the fact that the Court's decisions generally reflected public opinion, the surrounding debate calcified the image of the Warren Court as activist and liberal. Abe Fortas's embarrassing fall and Nixon's campaign against liberal justices helped make the term "activist Warren Court" totemic for liberals and conservatives alike. The fear of a liberal court has changed the appointment process forever, Kalman argues. Drawing from sources in the Ford, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton presidential libraries, as well as the justices' papers, she shows how the desire to avoid another Warren Court has politicized appointments by an order of magnitude. Among other things, presidents now almost never nominate politicians as Supreme Court justices (another response to Warren, who had been the governor of California). Sophisticated, lively, and attuned to the ironies of history, The Long Reach of the Sixties is essential reading for all students of the modern Court and U.S. political history.

Presidents and Mass Incarceration

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (161 download)

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Book Synopsis Presidents and Mass Incarceration by : Linda K. Mancillas

Download or read book Presidents and Mass Incarceration written by Linda K. Mancillas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2018-01-12 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking an innovative approach, this book looks at how U.S. presidents and their administrations' policies from the late 1960s to 2017 have led to rampant over-imprisonment and a public policy catastrophe in the United States. Mandatory minimum sentencing, "three-strikes-and-you're-out" legislation, harsher sentences, and less parole and probation-the result of draconian criminal justice policies in the last six decades is that the United States is the largest incarcerator in the world, surpassing Russia and China, with significant overrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos in U.S. prisons, especially for low-level, nonviolent drug offenses. Presidents and Mass Incarceration: Choices at the Top, Repercussions at the Bottom shows how American presidents from Lyndon B. Johnson to Donald J. Trump have operated as significant political criminal justice entrepreneurs and how the leadership choices made at the top by these chief executives have severe repercussions for the citizens at the lowest levels of our communities. Linda K. Mancillas references State of the Union Addresses, presidential initiatives, laws passed by Congress, Supreme Court decisions, and public opinion on high-profile crime events to assemble a cohesive framework of data that supports each president's impact on the incarceration explosion. Readers will come away with a greater appreciation for the complexity and magnitude of the political, economic, and societal issue of over-imprisonment that both the federal and state governments are attempting to address.

Forcing the Spring

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0698151585
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (981 download)

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Book Synopsis Forcing the Spring by : Jo Becker

Download or read book Forcing the Spring written by Jo Becker and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A Washington Post Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction) A Kirkus Best Book of the Year “[A] riveting legal drama, a snapshot in time, when the gay rights movement altered course and public opinion shifted with the speed of a bullet train...Becker's most remarkable accomplishment is to weave a spellbinder of a tale that, despite a finale reported around the world, manages to keep readers gripped until the very end.”-The Washington Post A tour de force of groundbreaking reportage by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jo Becker, Forcing the Spring is the definitive account of five remarkable years in American civil rights history: when the United States experienced a tectonic shift on the issue of marriage equality. Beginning with the historical legal challenge of California's ban on same-sex marriage, Becker expands the scope to encompass all aspects of this momentous struggle, offering a gripping behind-the-scenes narrative told with the lightning pace of the greatest legal thrillers. For nearly five years, Becker was given free rein in the legal and political war rooms where the strategy of marriage equality was plotted. She takes us inside the remarkable campaign that rebranded a movement; into the Oval Office where the president and his advisors debated how to respond to a fast-changing political landscape; into the chambers of the federal judges who decided that today's bans on same-sex marriage were no more constitutional than previous century's bans on interracial marriage; and into the mindsets of the Supreme Court judges who decided the California case and will likely soon decide the issue for the country at large. From the state-by state efforts to win marriage equality at the ballot box to the landmark Supreme Court case that struck down a law that banned legally married gay and lesbian couples from receiving federal benefits, Becker weaves together the political and legal forces that reshaped a nation. Forcing the Spring begins with California's controversial ballot initiative Proposition 8, which banned gay men and lesbians from marrying the person they loved. This electoral defeat galvanized an improbable alliance of opponents to the ban, with political operatives and Hollywood royalty enlisting attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies—the opposing counsels in the Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore case—to join together in a unique bipartisan challenge to the political status quo. Despite initial opposition from the gay rights establishment, the case against Proposition 8 would ultimately force the issue of marriage equality all the way to the Supreme Court, transforming same-sex marriage from a partisan issue into a modern crisis of civil rights. Shuttling between the twin American power centers of Hollywood and Washington—and based on access to all the key players in the Justice Department and the White House—Becker offers insider coverage on the true story of how President Obama “evolved” to embrace marriage equality. What starts out as a tale of an epic legal battle grows into the story of the evolution of a country. Becker shows how the country reexamined its opinions on same-sex marriage, an issue that raced along with a snowballing velocity which astounded veteran political operatives. Here is the ringside account of this unprecedented change, the fastest shift in public opinion ever seen in modern American politics. Clear-eyed and even-handed, Forcing the Spring is political and legal journalism at its finest, offering an unvarnished perspective on the extraordinary transformation of America and an inside look into the fight to win the rights of marriage and full citizenship for all.