num_pages: 216
description: Do any moral values underlie the foundations of law and society in America? In Justice as Integrity, David Fagelson argues that morality is indeed a part of the idea of law. Examining controversies of speech and privacy, he does not ignore the conservative communitarian streak in America, but argues that liberal tolerance best fits the social meanings of American political morality. While tolerance plays a critical role, different social practices yield different conceptions of tolerance. Judges must interpret any public text to develop coherent narratives that best explain the use of force in their jurisdiction. In America, Fagelson argues, liberal tolerance is the sovereign principle that the Supreme Court uses as a prism when interpreting social institutions like marriage, speech, and even death, to make them more consistent with personal autonomy.
language: English
title: Justice as Integrity: Tolerance and the Moral Momentum of Law
titlecomplete: Justice as Integrity: Tolerance and the Moral Momentum of Law (SUNY Series in American Constitutionalism)
series: SUNY Series in American Constitutionalism
publisher: State University of New York Press