Research Catalog

Title

A matter of interpretation : federal courts and the law : an essay / by Antonin Scalia ; with commentary by Amy Gutmann, editor, Gordon S. Wood, Laurence H. Tribe, Mary Ann Glendon, Ronald Dworkin ; with a new introduction by Akhil Reed Amar ; and a new afterword by Steven G. Calabresi.

Author

Scalia, Antonin,

Publication

• Princeton, New Jersey ; Oxford [United Kingdom] : Princeton University Press, 2018.
• ©1997

Supplementary Content

• Contributor biographical information
• Publisher description
• Book review (H-Net)

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Dworkin, Ronald,
• Glendon, Mary Ann, 1938-
• Gutmann, Amy,
• Tribe, Laurence H.,
• Wood, Gordon S.,

Description

xxiv, 173 pages; 22 cm

Summary

"In exploring the neglected art of statutory interpretation, Scalia urges that judges resist the temptation to use legislative intention and legislative history. In his view, it is incompatible with democratic government to allow the meaning of a statute to be determined by what the judges think the lawgivers meant rather than by what the legislature actually promulgated. Eschewing the judicial lawmaking that is the essence of common law, judges should interpret statutes and regulations by focusing on the text itself. Scalia then extends this principle to constitutional law. He proposes that we abandon the notion of an everchanging Constitution and pay attention to the Constitution's original meaning. Although not subscribing to the 'strict constructionism' that would prevent applying the Constitution to modern circumstances, Scalia emphatically rejects the idea that judges can properly 'smuggle' in new rights or deny old rights by using the Due Process Clause, for instance. In fact, such judicial discretion might lead to the destruction of the Bill of Rights if a majority of the judges ever wished to reach that most undesirable of goals. This essay is followed by four commentaries by Professors Gordon Wood, Laurence Tribe, Mary Ann Glendon, and Ronald Dworkin, who engage Justice Scalia's ideas about judicial interpretation from varying standpoints. In the spirit of debate, Justice Scalia responds to these critics."--

Series Statement

The University Center for Human Values series

Uniform Title

University Center for Human Values series.

Alternative Title

Federal courts and the law, an essay

Subjects

• Verfassungsauslegung
• USA > Supreme Court
• Gesetz
• Constitutional law > United States
• Interpretation
• Law > United States > Interpretation and construction
• Law > Interpretation and construction
• United States
• Auslegung
• Judge-made law > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Preface -- Introduction to the new edition / Akhil Reed Amar -- Common-law courts in a civil-law system : the role of United States federal courts in interpreting the Constitution and laws / Antonin Scalia -- Comment / Gordon S. Wood -- Comment / Laurence H. Tribe -- Comment / Mary Ann Glendon -- Comment / Ronald Dworkin -- Response / Antonin Scalia -- Afterword to the new edition / Steven G. Calabresi.

ISBN

• 0691174040
• 9780691174044

LCCN

2017953346

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library