I am very excited to announce the release of my new book, Courthouse Democracy and Minority Rights: Same-Sex Marriage in the States. In the book I examine how the democratization of state courts and state constitutional systems has influenced the capacity of judges to protect minority rights. Through an intensive examination of same-sex marriage policy, I show that democratic innovations like judicial elections and initiative amendment procedures have conditioned the impact of judges on state marriage laws. Using a combination of original and publicly available data, I demonstrate that "courthouse democracy" has influenced the behavior of state judges, the reactions of the public to state court decisions, and the long-term policy consequences of these decisions, including the passage of state constitutional amendments. I conclude that judges will be capable of producing meaningful social change-and protecting minority rights-only when they have the institutional resources that they need to stand against popular opinion.
Features
- Provides a clear engaging background about recent same-sex marriage cases and theories of judicial impact, making it appropriate to assign in undergraduate courses.
- Assesses the impact of state courts using cutting edge data analysis. The results are presented clearly, in ways that will be accessible to non-experts.
- Focuses on same-sex marriage, one of the most important policy areas of the present day.
- Includes numerous tables with statistics about the same-sex marriage cases, which readers will be able to incorporate into their own teaching and research.
Product Details
230 pages; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-998217-2ISBN10: 0-19-998217-1
For more information, please visit Oxford University Press's website, or click here.
