John Paul Stevens and the Constitution: The Search for Balance

A good pragmatist's constitutional theory is inseparable from the legal disputes out of which it arises. John Paul Stevens's theory, that of deciding individual cases well instead of applying constitutional principles in the abstract to cases by category, thus lends itself to being studied in its natural, factual habitat—in his own words, case by case. That's what this book does.

In Chapter 1 Sickels distills Stevens's thoughts about law and appellate judging from his early writings and his...