Democracy by decree
Subtitle: what happens when courts run government
By: Ross Sandler and David Schoenbrod
Contributors: Schoenbrod, David
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New Haven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 280
Subjects: Judicial power; Judge-made law; Courts; Democracy
Description: "Sandler and Schoenbrod tell how the courts, with the best intentions and often with the approval of elected officials, came to control ordinary policy making through decrees. These court regimes, they assert, impose rigid and often ancient detailed plans that prove ineffective and wasteful. Elected officials cannot respond to changing realities unless attorneys, court-appointed functionaries, and lower-echelon officials agree.

The result is neither judicial government nor good government, say Sandler and Schoenbrod, and they offer practical reforms that would set governments free from this stranglehold and allow courts to do their legitimate job of protecting rights."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: How courts came to govern; title: How Congress creates rights; title: How courts enforce rights; title: Something new is going on in court; title: How court management works; title: A good thing gone wrong; title: Why the wrong thing continues; title: Road to reform; title: New principles.