Toleration and the Constitution.

Intro -- Contents -- PART I. INTERPRETATION AND THE CONSTITUTION -- 1. The Aims of Constitutional Theory: A Comparative Analysis -- Court-Skeptical Theory -- Rights-Skeptical Theory -- The Theory of Neutral Principles -- Rights-Based Theory -- The Roles of Political and Moral Theory -- 2. Legal Interpretation and Historiography -- Interpretation and Western Culture -- Legal Interpretation -- Constitutional Interpretation -- 3. Constitutional Interpretation -- Against Positivistic Conventionalism -- A Conventionalist Argument Against Political Theory in Constitutional Interpretation -- History and Contractarian Political Theory in Constitutional Interpretation -- Contractarian Theory and the Inalienable Right to Conscience -- Interpretation and Judicial Review -- PART II. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY -- 4. The Inalienable Right to Conscience -- Covenant and Rights of the Person -- Utilitarian Equality -- Equal Respect for Persons -- Conscience as an Inalienable Human Right -- Contractarian Thought and the Moral Sovereignty of the People -- 5. The Primacy of Religious Toleration -- Historiography of the Religion Clauses -- The Jurisprudence of the Religion Clauses -- PART III. FREE SPEECH -- 6. A Theory of Free Speech -- Conscience and Communicative Integrity -- The Historiography of Free Speech and Press Clauses -- Jurisprudence of Free Speech: Subversive Advocacy -- 7. The Jurisprudence of Free Speech -- Group Libel and Offense in the Public Forum -- Defamation and Privacy -- Obscenity -- Commercial Speech -- The Equalization of Power and Free Speech -- The Public Forum -- Concluding Methodological Remarks -- PART IV. CONSTITUTIONAL PRIVACY -- 8. A Theory of Constitutional Privacy -- The Interpretive Legitimacy of the Right of Constitutional Privacy -- Changing Moral Consensus -- The Harm Principle -- Conscience, Privacy, and General Goods.

Equal Respect and the Religion Clauses -- Primacy of Toleration and Constitutional Privacy -- 9. The Jurisprudence of Constitutional Privacy -- Privacy and Contraception -- Constitutional Privacy and Abortion -- Privacy and Sexual Autonomy -- Beyond Constitutional Privacy -- 10. Methodological Perspectives on Political Theory and Constitutional Interpretation -- Interpreting the Text -- The Scope of Judicial Review -- Review Standards over Federalism and Separation of Powers -- Equal Protection -- Interpretation, Unity of Theory and Practice, and the American Law School -- Bibliography -- Cases -- Statutes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.

Current changes in the structure of the Supreme Court, as well as recent Supreme Court decisions affecting individual rights, have today brought constitutional issues to the forefront of American thought. This study, based on an original synthesis of political theory, history, law, and a larger approach to the interpretation of culture, develops a general theory of constitutional interpretation, touching on a myriad of current topics of constitutional controversy, including church-state relations, the scope of free speech, and the application of the constitutional right to privacy, abortion, and consensual adult sexual relations.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.