Neoconservative politics and the Supreme Court
Subtitle: law, power, and democracy
By: Stephen M. Feldman
Publisher: New York University Press; NYU Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 226
ISBN-13: 9780814764664; 9780814785898; 9780814770764
Subjects: United States; Political questions and judicial power; Conservatism; United States. Supreme Court
Description: In this concise, timely book, constitutional law expert Stephen M. Feldman draws on neoconservative writings to explore the rise of the neocons and their influence on the Supreme Court. Neocons burst onto the political scene in the early 1980s via their assault on pluralist democracy's ethical relativism, where no pre-existing or higher principles limit the agendas of interest groups. Instead, they advocated for a resurrection of republican democracy, which declares that virtuous citizens and officials pursue the common good. Yet despite their original goals, neocons quickly became an interest group themselves, competing successfully within the pluralist democratic arena. When the political winds shifted in 2008, however, neocons found themselves shorn of power in Congress and the executive branch. But portentously, they still controlled the Supreme Court. Neoconservative Politics and the Supreme Court explains how and why the neoconservatives criticized but operated within pluralist democracy, and, most important, what the entrenchment of neocons on the Supreme Court means for present and future politics and law. -- Book jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.