Methods of Interpretation How the Supreme Court Reads the Constitution

Author: Lackland H. Bloom
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
ISBN: 9780195377118
Published In: April 2009
Format: Hardback , 592 pages
Jurisdiction: U.S. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Provides students of the Court and Constitutional litigators an overview of the perennial best approaches to constitutional interpretation as practiced, not theorized.
Contrasts the best and the worst examples of interpretive methodologies with detailed case-analysis.
Supplies a detailed review of how constitutional law is created and which methods are employed by the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution

Methods of Interpretation: How the Supreme Court Reads the Constitution examines the various methodologies the Supreme Court, and individual justices, have employed throughout history when interpreting the Constitution. Rather than attempting to set forth an overall theory of constitutional interpretation or plunge into the never ending scholarly debate over interpretative theory, Lackland H. Bloom focuses exclusively on what the Court and individual justices have done and said about constitutional interpretation in the course of deciding constitutional cases. He identifies many of the best, and a few of the worst, examples of particular interpretative methodologies, as well as the best examples of explicit discussions of constitutional interpretation by the Court and individual justices. Professor Bloom pays particular focus on the Supreme Court's approaches to constitutional interpretation since it is the Court that sets the standards. Although commentators may have the final word on what constitutional interpretation should be, he argues that the Court essentially has the final word on what it actually is.

Chapter One: Textualism
Chapter Two: The Original Understanding
Chapter Three: Tradition and Practice
Chapter Four: Constitutional Structure
Chapter Five: Precedent
Chapter Six: Deriving Doctrine
Chapter Seven: Shaping, Clarifying, and Changing Doctrine
Chapter Eight: Consequential Reasoning
Chapter Nine: Rhetoric
Index

Professor Lackland H. Bloom is a Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University School of Law. He is a specialist in constitutional law, and has recently published articles concerning freedom of speech and the rhetoric of Supreme Court opinions.