Judicial Review in an Age of Moral Pluralism [Paperback]

This book considers how judicial review can be improved to strike the appropriate balance between legislative and judicial power.In Judicial Review in an Age of Moral Pluralism, Ronald C. Den Otter addresses how judicial review can be improved to strike the appropriate balance between legislative and judicial power under conditions of moral pluralism, utilizing John Rawlss idea of public reason to determine when courts should invalidate laws and when they should uphold them even in the midst of reasonable disagreement about the correct outcome in particular constitutional controversies.In Judicial Review in an Age of Moral Pluralism, Ronald C. Den Otter addresses how judicial review can be improved to strike the appropriate balance between legislative and judicial power under conditions of moral pluralism, utilizing John Rawlss idea of public reason to determine when courts should invalidate laws and when they should uphold them even in the midst of reasonable disagreement about the correct outcome in particular constitutional controversies.Americans cannot live with judicial review, but they cannot live without it. There is something characteristically American about turning the most divisive political questions  like freedom of religion, same-sex marriage, affirmative action, and abortion  into legal questions with the hope that courts can answer them. In Judicial Review in an Age of Moral Pluralism Ronald C. Den Otter addresses how judicial review can be improved to strike the appropriate balance between legislative and judicial power under conditions of moral pluralism. His defense of judicial review is predicated on the imperative of ensuring that the reasons that the state offers on behalf of its most important laws are consistent with the freedom and equality of all persons. Den Otter ties this defense to a theory of constitutional adjudication based on John Rawlss idea of public reason and argues that a law that is not sufficiently publicly justified isl³¼