For more than a decade, the U.S. Supreme Court has turned a skeptical eye toward Congress. Distrustful of Congress's capacity to respect constitutional boundaries, the Court has recently overturned federal legislation at a historically unprecedented rate. This intensified judicial scrutiny highlights the need for increased attention to how Congress approaches constitutional issues. In this important collection, leading scholars in law and political science examine the role of Congress in constitutional interpretation, demonstrating how to better integrate the legislative branch into understandings of constitutional practice.

Several contributors offer wide-ranging accounts of the workings of Congress. They look at lawmakers' attitudes toward Congress's role as a constitutional interpreter, the offices within Congress that help lawmakers learn about constitutional issues, Congress's willingness to use its confirmation power to shape constitutional decisions by both the executive and the courts, and the frequency with which congressional committees take constitutional questions into account. Other contributors address congressional deliberation, paying particular attention to whether Congress's constitutional interpretations are sound. Still others examine how Congress and the courts should respond to one another's decisions, suggesting how the courts should evaluate Congress's work and considering how lawmakers respond to Court decisions that strike down federal legislation. While some essayists are inclined to evaluate Congress's constitutional interpretation positively, others argue that it could be improved and suggest institutional and procedural reforms toward that end. Whatever their conclusions, all of the essays underscore the pervasive and crucial role that Congress plays in shaping the meaning of the Constitution.

Contributors. David P. Currie, Neal Devins, William N. Eskridge Jr.. John Ferejohn, Louis Fisher, Elizabeth Garrett, Michael J. Gerhardt, Michael J. Klarman, Bruce G. Peabody, J. Mitchell Pickerill, Barbara Sinclair, Mark Tushnet, Adrian Vermeule, Keith E. Whittington, John C. Yoo

Essays contest the notion of the absolute preeminence of judicial review in constitutional interpretation, analyzing the role of Congress as a constitutional interpreter and responsible constitutional agent

About the Author

Neal Devins is Goodrich Professor of Law, Professor of Government, and Director of the Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary School of Law. Among his books are Shaping Constitutional Values: The Supreme Court, Elected Government, and the Abortion Dispute; The Democratic Constitution (coauthored with Louis Fisher); and A Year at the Supreme Court (coedited with Davison Douglas and published by Duke University Press).

Keith E. Whittington is Associate Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He is the author of Constitutional Construction: Divided Powers and Constitutional Meaning and Constitutional Interpretation: Textual Meaning, Original Intent, and Judicial Review.

Reviews
"Congress and the Constitution is a timely and provocative book on whether, when, and how Congress thinks about the meaning of the Constitution. The excellent scholarship in this volume raises deep questions about the relationship between Congress and the courts in interpreting the Constitution and sets an agenda for further work in this important area. In so doing, the book makes a significant contribution."-Elena Kagan, Dean of Harvard Law School
"The subject of this collection-the treatment of the Constitution by legislators in Congress-is both extremely interesting and important, and I do not believe that there is any other single book that is so effective in bringing together a wide range of relevant materials."-Sanford Levinson, author of Wrestling with Diversity



Book Information
ISBN 9780822335863
Author Neal Devins
Format Hardback
Page Count 336
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 617g