Book Review by J. Michael Veron
Whether courts can legitimately make constitutional policy is currently the stuff of lively constitutional debate. Those on the affirmative side argue that the Constitution is lifeless without the sustenance that substantive readings give it. Opponents counter that interpreting the Constitution in such a manner is unprincipled and undemocratic. Much has been written by the advocates of both sides, but no one has had the temerity to suggest that the issue is resolved.
Into the fray now comes Professor John Hart Ely. In this book, his pronunciamento on the matter, Ely is appropriately respectful of the formidability of his task and yet unintimidated by the difficulties encountered by his predecessors. As a result, Democracy and Distrust offers a dialectic that is a significant contribution to current thought on the subject. Given Ely's decided opinion that constitutional policymaking is none of the courts' business, this book may well become a training manual for those taking the negative side of the debate.
About the Author
J. Michael Veron. B.A. 1972, J.D. 1974, Tulane University; LL. M. 1976, Harvard University. Member, Louisiana Bar.
Citation
56 Tul. L. Rev. 447 (1981)