Civil rights and liberties: Principles of interpretation

by Andrea L. Bonnicksen

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874844762
• ISBN13: 9780874844764
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: Mayfield Pub. Co
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A good survey

While a bit dated now, this book on Civil Rights and Liberties by Andrea L. Bonnicksen is still a good survey of the Constitutionally-guaranteed and derived civil rights in the United States. This was a book that was used for my Constitutional Law class in the 1980s, as a supplement to the primary text. Bonnicksen points out (as do most scholars on the subject) that most of those rights and liberties we take from the Constitution actually derive not from the primary body of the document, but rather from the first ten amendments, collectively known as the Bill of Rights. However, according to Bonnicksen, 'The Constitution defines our freedoms in cursory language, thus leaving it to the courts to flesh out the document's skeletal guarantees.' This has been done through case law and precedent over time. Bonnicksen's first chapter discusses the process of constitutional interpretation - the idea of judicial review for constitutionality is not itself a process contained in the Constitution itself. Bonnicksen highlights the case of Mapp v. Ohio, and its key element, the exclusionary rule, as a test case for demonstrating the broader range of interpretation. Subsequent chapters each focus upon a particular right or liberty - freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and the establishment clause, the equal protection clause (concentrating on Amendment 14, not in the first ten amendments Bill of Rights), due process (from Amendments 5 and 14), and finally various criminal procedural rights taken from Amendments 4, 5, 6, and 8. Bonnicksen shows judicial process well, showing both the objective and subjective sides, particularly with concern for Supreme Court decisions. She groups judicial reasoning into four primary areas: precedent (stare decisis), social and political concerns, internal group dynamics (of the Court), and personal preferences or predilections of individual justices. Each chapter involves both theoretical concerns, historical development and case law in light of these areas. Each chapter also has questions for further consideration, endnotes for references, and a handy chapter summary. This is a good survey of civil rights and liberties - it is a bit dated in some regards, but as a general overview, the theory and the primary issues remain the same over time for the most part.