R&L Logo R&L Logo
  • GENERAL
    • Browse by Subjects
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Chases's Calendar
  • ACADEMIC
    • Textbooks
    • Browse by Course
    • Instructor's Copies
    • Monographs & Research
    • Reference
  • PROFESSIONAL
    • Education
    • Intelligence & Security
    • Library Services
    • Business & Leadership
    • Museum Studies
    • Music
    • Pastoral Resources
    • Psychotherapy
  • FREUD SET
Cover Image
Paperback
share of facebook share on twitter
Add to GoodReads

How to Read the Constitution

Originalism, Constitutional Interpretation, and Judicial Power

Christopher Wolfe

Prominent constitutional scholar Christopher Wolfe challenges popular opinions by presenting an insightful and well-supported defense of originalist interpretations of the Constitution. He describes the traditional approach to constitutional interpretation and judicial review and then focuses his analysis on the due process clause, which has become the source of most modern constitutional law. Wolfe challenges the most influential defenders of judicial activism, including Laurence Tribe, Michael Dorf, Harry Wellington, and Mark Tushnet, and he persuasively explains the dire political consequences of taking the Constitution out of constitutional law.
  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 240 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-8476-8235-5 • Paperback • July 1996 • $63.00 • (£48.00)
Subjects: Law / Constitutional
Christopher Wolfe is professor of political science at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Chapter 1 Acknowledgments
Chapter 2 Introduction
Part 3 Part I: The Founding and Constitutional Interpretation
Chapter 4 How to Read and Interpret the Constitution
Chapter 5 The Original Meaning of the Due Process Clause
Chapter 6 Between Scylla and Charybdis: Powell and Berger on the Framers and Original Intention
Part 7 Part II: Twentieth-Century Judicial Power: Practice and Theory
Chapter 8 How the Constitution Was Taken Out of Constitutional Law
Chapter 9 The Result-Oriented Adjudicator's Guide to Constitutional, Law I: Laurence Tribe and Michael Dorf
Chapter 10 Law II: Harry Wellington
Chapter 11 Grand Theories and Ambiguous Republican Critique: Mark Tushnet on Contemporary Constitutional Law
Chapter 12 Constitutional Interpretation and Precedent
Chapter 13 Notes
Chapter 14 Index
How to Read the Constitution is the mature reflections of one of America's leading constitutional theorists and, in my view, the pre-eminent defender of an 'originalist' approach to constitutional review by courts. Wolfe is in full bloom.
— Gerard Bradley, University of Notre Dame


One of the best defenses of an approach to constitutional interpretation that has few academic defenders, it is clearly and fairly well written both in its own argument and in recording the arguments of others.
— Choice Reviews


How to Read the Constitution

Originalism, Constitutional Interpretation, and Judicial Power

Cover Image
Paperback
Summary
Summary
  • Prominent constitutional scholar Christopher Wolfe challenges popular opinions by presenting an insightful and well-supported defense of originalist interpretations of the Constitution. He describes the traditional approach to constitutional interpretation and judicial review and then focuses his analysis on the due process clause, which has become the source of most modern constitutional law. Wolfe challenges the most influential defenders of judicial activism, including Laurence Tribe, Michael Dorf, Harry Wellington, and Mark Tushnet, and he persuasively explains the dire political consequences of taking the Constitution out of constitutional law.
Details
Details
  • Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
    Pages: 240 • Trim: 6 x 9
    978-0-8476-8235-5 • Paperback • July 1996 • $63.00 • (£48.00)
    Subjects: Law / Constitutional
Author
Author
  • Christopher Wolfe is professor of political science at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Chapter 1 Acknowledgments
    Chapter 2 Introduction
    Part 3 Part I: The Founding and Constitutional Interpretation
    Chapter 4 How to Read and Interpret the Constitution
    Chapter 5 The Original Meaning of the Due Process Clause
    Chapter 6 Between Scylla and Charybdis: Powell and Berger on the Framers and Original Intention
    Part 7 Part II: Twentieth-Century Judicial Power: Practice and Theory
    Chapter 8 How the Constitution Was Taken Out of Constitutional Law
    Chapter 9 The Result-Oriented Adjudicator's Guide to Constitutional, Law I: Laurence Tribe and Michael Dorf
    Chapter 10 Law II: Harry Wellington
    Chapter 11 Grand Theories and Ambiguous Republican Critique: Mark Tushnet on Contemporary Constitutional Law
    Chapter 12 Constitutional Interpretation and Precedent
    Chapter 13 Notes
    Chapter 14 Index
Reviews
Reviews
  • How to Read the Constitution is the mature reflections of one of America's leading constitutional theorists and, in my view, the pre-eminent defender of an 'originalist' approach to constitutional review by courts. Wolfe is in full bloom.
    — Gerard Bradley, University of Notre Dame


    One of the best defenses of an approach to constitutional interpretation that has few academic defenders, it is clearly and fairly well written both in its own argument and in recording the arguments of others.
    — Choice Reviews


ALSO AVAILABLE

  • Cover image for the book The Right to Privacy in Texas: From Common Law Origins to 21st Century Protections
  • Cover image for the book Freedom of Expression in the Supreme Court: The Defining Cases
  • Cover image for the book Tried and Convicted: How Police, Prosecutors, and Judges Destroy Our Constitutional Rights
  • Cover image for the book The Dismissal of Gough Whitlam and the Australian Constitutional Crisis of 1975: When No One Knew the Rules
  • Cover image for the book The Biblical Roots of American Constitutionalism: From
  • Cover image for the book A Principled Constitution?: Four Skeptical Views
  • Cover image for the book The Concept of Ordered Liberty and the Common-Law Due-Process Tradition: Slaughterhouse Cases through Obergefell v. Hodges (1872–2015)
  • Cover image for the book Challenges to the American Founding: Slavery, Historicism, and Progressivism in the Nineteenth Century
  • Cover image for the book Justice Rehnquist, the Supreme Court, and the Bill of Rights
  • Cover image for the book Guardian of the Wall: Leo Pfeffer and the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment
  • Cover image for the book The Supreme Court, the Constitution, and William Rehnquist
  • Cover image for the book A Companion to the United States Constitution and Its Amendments, Fifth Edition
  • Cover image for the book America in Decline: How the Loss of Civic Virtue and Standards of Excellence Is Causing the End of Pax Americana
  • Cover image for the book Freedom of Speech in the Western World: Comparison and Critique
  • Cover image for the book The Naked Australian Constitution: Interpretations, Inadequacies, and Implications
  • Cover image for the book Storm Over the Constitution
  • Cover image for the book The Tenth Amendment and State Sovereignty: Constitutional History and Contemporary Issues
  • Cover image for the book The Unwritten Brazilian Constitution: Human Rights in the Supremo Tribunal Federal
  • Cover image for the book Constitutional Law and Federations
  • Cover image for the book The Presidential Republic: Executive Representation and Deliberative Democracy
  • Cover image for the book The Religion Clauses of the First Amendment: Guarantees of States' Rights?
  • Cover image for the book Summaries of Leading Cases on the Constitution, 14th Edition
  • Cover image for the book Australia’s American Constitution and the Dismissal: How English Legal Science Marred the Founders’ Vision
  • Cover image for the book The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action
  • Cover image for the book America’s Two Constitutions: A Study of the Treatment of Dissenters in Time of War
  • Cover image for the book Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Anatomy of a Constitutional Law Issue
  • Cover image for the book American Constitutionalism, Marriage, and the Family: Obergefell v. Hodges and U.S. v. Windsor in Context
  • Cover image for the book Approaching the U.S. Constitution: Sacred Covenant or Plaything for Lawyers and Judges
  • Cover image for the book Impartial Justice: The Real Supreme Court Cases that Define the Constitutional Right to a Neutral and Detached Decisionmaker
  • Cover image for the book Clashing Worldviews in the U.S. Supreme Court: Rehnquist vs. Blackmun
  • Cover image for the book Reason and Republicanism: Thomas Jefferson's Legacy of Liberty
  • Cover image for the book Perfecting the Constitution: The Case for the Article V Amendment Process
  • Cover image for the book The U.S. Supreme Court and New Federalism: From the Rehnquist to the Roberts Court
  • Cover image for the book Select Legal Topics, Volume 2
  • Cover image for the book Ranters Run Amok: And Other Adventures in the History of the Law
  • Cover image for the book The Right to Privacy in Texas: From Common Law Origins to 21st Century Protections
  • Cover image for the book Freedom of Expression in the Supreme Court: The Defining Cases
  • Cover image for the book Tried and Convicted: How Police, Prosecutors, and Judges Destroy Our Constitutional Rights
  • Cover image for the book The Dismissal of Gough Whitlam and the Australian Constitutional Crisis of 1975: When No One Knew the Rules
  • Cover image for the book The Biblical Roots of American Constitutionalism: From
  • Cover image for the book A Principled Constitution?: Four Skeptical Views
  • Cover image for the book The Concept of Ordered Liberty and the Common-Law Due-Process Tradition: Slaughterhouse Cases through Obergefell v. Hodges (1872–2015)
  • Cover image for the book Challenges to the American Founding: Slavery, Historicism, and Progressivism in the Nineteenth Century
  • Cover image for the book Justice Rehnquist, the Supreme Court, and the Bill of Rights
  • Cover image for the book Guardian of the Wall: Leo Pfeffer and the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment
  • Cover image for the book The Supreme Court, the Constitution, and William Rehnquist
  • Cover image for the book A Companion to the United States Constitution and Its Amendments, Fifth Edition
  • Cover image for the book America in Decline: How the Loss of Civic Virtue and Standards of Excellence Is Causing the End of Pax Americana
  • Cover image for the book Freedom of Speech in the Western World: Comparison and Critique
  • Cover image for the book The Naked Australian Constitution: Interpretations, Inadequacies, and Implications
  • Cover image for the book Storm Over the Constitution
  • Cover image for the book The Tenth Amendment and State Sovereignty: Constitutional History and Contemporary Issues
  • Cover image for the book The Unwritten Brazilian Constitution: Human Rights in the Supremo Tribunal Federal
  • Cover image for the book Constitutional Law and Federations
  • Cover image for the book The Presidential Republic: Executive Representation and Deliberative Democracy
  • Cover image for the book The Religion Clauses of the First Amendment: Guarantees of States' Rights?
  • Cover image for the book Summaries of Leading Cases on the Constitution, 14th Edition
  • Cover image for the book Australia’s American Constitution and the Dismissal: How English Legal Science Marred the Founders’ Vision
  • Cover image for the book The Writing and Ratification of the U.S. Constitution: Practical Virtue in Action
  • Cover image for the book America’s Two Constitutions: A Study of the Treatment of Dissenters in Time of War
  • Cover image for the book Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Anatomy of a Constitutional Law Issue
  • Cover image for the book American Constitutionalism, Marriage, and the Family: Obergefell v. Hodges and U.S. v. Windsor in Context
  • Cover image for the book Approaching the U.S. Constitution: Sacred Covenant or Plaything for Lawyers and Judges
  • Cover image for the book Impartial Justice: The Real Supreme Court Cases that Define the Constitutional Right to a Neutral and Detached Decisionmaker
  • Cover image for the book Clashing Worldviews in the U.S. Supreme Court: Rehnquist vs. Blackmun
  • Cover image for the book Reason and Republicanism: Thomas Jefferson's Legacy of Liberty
  • Cover image for the book Perfecting the Constitution: The Case for the Article V Amendment Process
  • Cover image for the book The U.S. Supreme Court and New Federalism: From the Rehnquist to the Roberts Court
  • Cover image for the book Select Legal Topics, Volume 2
  • Cover image for the book Ranters Run Amok: And Other Adventures in the History of the Law
facebook icon twitter icon instagram icon linked in icon NEWSLETTERS
ABOUT US
  • Mission Statement
  • Employment
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Statement
CONTACT
  • Company Directory
  • Publicity and Media Queries
  • Rights and Permissions
  • Textbook Resource Center
AUTHOR RESOURCES
  • Royalty Contact
  • Production Guidelines
  • Manuscript Submissions
ORDERING INFORMATION
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • National Book Network
  • Ingram Publisher Services UK
  • Special Sales
  • International Sales
  • eBook Partners
  • Digital Catalogs
IMPRINTS
  • Rowman & Littlefield
  • Lexington Books
  • Hamilton Books
  • Applause Books
  • Amadeus Press
  • Backbeat Books
  • Bernan
  • Hal Leonard Books
  • Limelight Editions
  • Co-Publishing Partners
  • Globe Pequot
  • Down East Books
  • Falcon Guides
  • Gooseberry Patch
  • Lyons Press
  • Muddy Boots
  • Pineapple Press
  • TwoDot Books
  • Stackpole Books
PARTNERS
  • American Alliance of Museums
  • American Association for State and Local History
  • Brookings Institution Press
  • Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
  • Fortress Press
  • The Foundation for Critical Thinking
  • Lehigh University Press
  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  • Other Partners...