Justice as Integrity: Tolerance and the Moral Momentum of Law (SUNY series in American Constitutionalism) - Hardcover

Fagelson, David

9780791467633: Justice as Integrity: Tolerance and the Moral Momentum of Law (SUNY series in American Constitutionalism)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0791467635 ISBN 13: 9780791467633

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2006

Do any moral values underlie the foundations of law and society in America? In Justice as Integrity, David Fagelson argues that morality is indeed a part of the idea of law. Examining controversies of speech and privacy, he does not ignore the conservative communitarian streak in America, but argues that liberal tolerance best fits the social meanings of American political morality. While tolerance plays a critical role, different social practices yield different conceptions of tolerance. Judges must interpret any public text to develop coherent narratives that best explain the use of force in their jurisdiction. In America, Fagelson argues, liberal tolerance is the sovereign principle that the Supreme Court uses as a prism when interpreting social institutions like marriage, speech, and even death, to make them more consistent with personal autonomy.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

"Fagelson's thesis about tolerance as a basis for law is as original as it is provocative. It is sure to excite and confound legal scholars and political theorists. This book will surely be criticized and challenged, but that is true of all important works." -- Philip A. Klinkner, coauthor of The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in Ameri

Synopsis:

Attempts to show why morality and, in particular, tolerance are each part of the idea of law.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.