This is the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of state supreme courts. Offering detailed case studies of the Alabama, Ohio, and New Jersey supreme courts, G. Alan Tarr and Mary Cornelia Aldis Porter then use this information to assess the state courts' relations with federal courts, their relations with state courts in other states, and their relations with other institutions of state government.

The authors of this engaging book discuss whether federalism promotes or undermines rights. With emerging democracies in Europe and elsewhere currently attempting to design constitutions that combine effective government, recognition of ethnic diversity within their populations, and protection of individual rights, the importance of these questions cannot be overstated. The authors examine both the theoretical perspectives on the relationship between federalism and rights, and the historical and contemporary relationship between federalism and rights in the United States. The contributors to this volume analyze the U.S. federal system as a potential model for contemporary constitution-makers as well as explore how its system can serve as a cautionary example. Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Federalism. Contributors include: Dorthy Toth Beasley; Irwin Cotler; Talbolt Dälemberte; Daniel J. Elazar; A.E. Dick Howard; Gary J. Jacobsohn; Koen Lenaerts; Jean Yarborough; Michael P. Zuckert. (view table of contents)

Product Description: The reliance on state declarations of rights to expand rights protections during the last two decades has highlighted the political importance of state constitutions. Yet, throughout American history up to the present day, state constitutions have been the battleground for fundamental political conflicts...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: AMERICAN CONSITITUTIONAL LAW provides a comprehensive account of the nation's defining document. Based on the premise that the study of the Constitution and constitutional law is of fundamental importance to understanding the principles, prospects, and problems of America, the text puts current events in terms of what those who initially drafted and ratified the Constitution sought to accomplish...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: An authoritative comparative analysis of 12 diverse federal countries.

The impartial administration of justice and the accountability of government officials are two of the most strongly held American values. Yet these values are often in direct conflict with one another. At the national level, the U.S. Constitution resolves this tension in favor of judicial independence, insulating judges from the undue influence of other political institutions, interest groups, and the general public. But at the state level, debate has continued as to the proper balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability. In this volume, constitutional scholar G. Alan Tarr focuses squarely on that debate. In part, the analysis is historical: how have the reigning conceptions of judicial independence and accountability emerged, and when and how did conflict over them develop? In part, the analysis is theoretical: what is the proper understanding of judicial independence and accountability? Tarr concludes the book by identifying the challenges to state-level judicial independence and accountability that have emerged in recent decades, assessing the solutions offered by the competing sides, and offering proposals for how to strike the appropriate balance between independence and accountability.

Form yourown evaluations of the organization, function, and impact of the courts on and within government with the brief, affordable JUDICIAL PROCESS AND JUDICIAL POLICYMAKING. The textbook focuses on policy in its discussion of the judicial process, based on four premises: 1) that courts in the U.S. have always played an important role in governing and that their role has increased in recent decades; 2) that judicial policymaking is a distinctive activity; 3) that courts make policy in a variety of ways; and 4) that courts may be the objects of public policy, as well as creators.

Product Description: American Constitutional Law, Volume I provides a comprehensive account of the nation's defining document, examining how its provisions were originally understood by those who drafted and ratified it, and how they have since been interpreted by the Supreme Court, Congress, the President, lower federal courts, and state judiciaries...read more