The Supreme Court and Election Law: Judging Equality from Baker v. Carr to Bush v. Gore

“A pioneering study of the Court’s increasing efforts to regulate the US political system” from the author of A Real Right to Vote (Bruce Cain, University of California, Berkeley).
 
In the first comprehensive study of election law since the Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore, Richard L. Hasen rethinks the Court’s role in regulating elections. Drawing on the case files of the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist courts, Hasen roots the Court’s intervention in political process cases to the landmark 1962 case, Baker v. Carr. The case opened the courts to a variety of election law disputes, to the point that the courts now control and direct major aspects of the American electoral process.

The Supreme Court does have a crucial role to play in protecting a socially constructed “core” of political equality principles, contends Hasen, but it should leave contested questions of political equality to the political process itself. Under this standard, many of the Court’s most important election law cases from Baker to Bush have been wrongly decided.
 
“A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of law and politics . . . [Hasen’s] is an important framework against which election law scholars will react and upon which they will build for some time to come.” —Michigan Law Review
 
“Hasen engagingly draws on internal Court deliberations, as well as political science and legal theory, to assess and criticize dramatic transformations in the role of constitutional law in overseeing the structure of democracy.” —Richard H. Pildes, NYU School of Law
 
“A major contribution to the field of election law.” —Thomas E. Mann, The Brookings Institution

1120200885
The Supreme Court and Election Law: Judging Equality from Baker v. Carr to Bush v. Gore

“A pioneering study of the Court’s increasing efforts to regulate the US political system” from the author of A Real Right to Vote (Bruce Cain, University of California, Berkeley).
 
In the first comprehensive study of election law since the Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore, Richard L. Hasen rethinks the Court’s role in regulating elections. Drawing on the case files of the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist courts, Hasen roots the Court’s intervention in political process cases to the landmark 1962 case, Baker v. Carr. The case opened the courts to a variety of election law disputes, to the point that the courts now control and direct major aspects of the American electoral process.

The Supreme Court does have a crucial role to play in protecting a socially constructed “core” of political equality principles, contends Hasen, but it should leave contested questions of political equality to the political process itself. Under this standard, many of the Court’s most important election law cases from Baker to Bush have been wrongly decided.
 
“A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of law and politics . . . [Hasen’s] is an important framework against which election law scholars will react and upon which they will build for some time to come.” —Michigan Law Review
 
“Hasen engagingly draws on internal Court deliberations, as well as political science and legal theory, to assess and criticize dramatic transformations in the role of constitutional law in overseeing the structure of democracy.” —Richard H. Pildes, NYU School of Law
 
“A major contribution to the field of election law.” —Thomas E. Mann, The Brookings Institution

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The Supreme Court and Election Law: Judging Equality from Baker v. Carr to Bush v. Gore

The Supreme Court and Election Law: Judging Equality from Baker v. Carr to Bush v. Gore

by Richard Hasen
The Supreme Court and Election Law: Judging Equality from Baker v. Carr to Bush v. Gore

The Supreme Court and Election Law: Judging Equality from Baker v. Carr to Bush v. Gore

by Richard Hasen

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Overview

“A pioneering study of the Court’s increasing efforts to regulate the US political system” from the author of A Real Right to Vote (Bruce Cain, University of California, Berkeley).
 
In the first comprehensive study of election law since the Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore, Richard L. Hasen rethinks the Court’s role in regulating elections. Drawing on the case files of the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist courts, Hasen roots the Court’s intervention in political process cases to the landmark 1962 case, Baker v. Carr. The case opened the courts to a variety of election law disputes, to the point that the courts now control and direct major aspects of the American electoral process.

The Supreme Court does have a crucial role to play in protecting a socially constructed “core” of political equality principles, contends Hasen, but it should leave contested questions of political equality to the political process itself. Under this standard, many of the Court’s most important election law cases from Baker to Bush have been wrongly decided.
 
“A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of law and politics . . . [Hasen’s] is an important framework against which election law scholars will react and upon which they will build for some time to come.” —Michigan Law Review
 
“Hasen engagingly draws on internal Court deliberations, as well as political science and legal theory, to assess and criticize dramatic transformations in the role of constitutional law in overseeing the structure of democracy.” —Richard H. Pildes, NYU School of Law
 
“A major contribution to the field of election law.” —Thomas E. Mann, The Brookings Institution


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780814773338
Publisher: New York University Press
Publication date: 11/21/2023
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 240
Sales rank: 734,350
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Richard L. Hasen is Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law.

Table of Contents

PrefaceAcknowledgments Introduction: Mighty Platonic Guardians 1 The Supreme Court of Political Equality 2 Judicial Unmanageability and Political Equality 3 Protecting the Core of Political Equality 4 Deferring to Political Branches on Contested Equality Claims 5 Equality, Not Structure Conclusion: Political Equality and a Minimalist Court Appendix 1: Twentieth-Century Election Law Cases Decided by the Supreme Court in a Written Opinion Appendix 2: Justice Goldberg’s Proposed Dissent to a Per Curiam Summary Af?rmance in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections NotesIndex About the Author 

What People are Saying About This

Thomas E. Mann

"A major contribution to the field of election law."
The Brookings Institution

From the Publisher

“A major contribution to the field of election law.”
-Thomas E. Mann,The Brookings Institution

“A pioneering study of the Court's increasing efforts to regulate the US political system. Hasen addresses both issues of legal doctrine and political science in his sweeping look at the Court's positions on such issues as the status of political parties, voting rights, redistricting, balloting procedures, and campaign finance reform.”
-Bruce Cain,University of California, Berkeley

“Hasen masterfully distills complex legal doctrines and sophisticated political theory into a succinct analysis filled with practical wisdom. Challenging the prevailing view of Bush v. Gore as an aberration, he shows that it is simply another patch in the crazy-quilt constitutional law of elections. Anyone who cares about American democracy should read this original, important, and thought-provoking book.”
-Robert J. Pushaw,Pepperdine University School of Law

“Hasen engagingly draws on internal Court deliberations, as well as political science and legal theory, to assess and criticize dramatic transformations in the role of constitutional law in overseeing the structure of democracy. The Supreme Court and Election Law will interest all those concerned with understanding the relationship between constitutional law and democracy in struggles over how contested ideals of political equality should inform the design of democratic institutions."”
-Richard H. Pildes,NYU School of Law

“Hasen provides a citizen's guide to the Court's decisions and offers an innovative proposal, contrary to many lawyers’ predispositions, saying why (and when) the Court should intervene but give little guidance to the people devising the laws that regulate our elections. This is a provocative analysis that deserves thorough consideration.”
-Mark Tushnet,Georgetown University Law Center

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