Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution

Book Description

Does the Constitution protect the right to same-sex marriage? Taking a careful look at the issue, Evan Gerstmann looks at the legal debate, and asks whether, in a democratic society, the courts, rather than voters, should resolve the question. Gerstmann also asks whether such a court-created law could be effective in the face of public opposition. Evan Gerstmann argues that this problem is one of the most significant constitutional issues facing society because it challenges society's commitment to true legal equality. After graduating with honors from the University of Michigan Law school in 1986, Evan Gerstmann practiced law in New York City for five years. Subsequently, he completed his Masters and Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin. He studies the interaction between law and politics. He has published a book on constitutional law, The Constitutional Class: Gays, Lesbians and the Failure of Class-Based Equal Protection (University of Chicago, 1999), as well as articles on subjects ranging from freedom of speech to how criminal law affects victims of domestic violence.

Customer Reviews:

fundamental rights.......2005-07-02

This is a well-done book, but one that will be a bit hard for those not at least somewhat familiar with constitutional law to follow. Gerstmann argues that marriage is a "fundamental right" under the constitution, and as such it is illegitimate to refuse to extend this right to same-sex couples. In making this argument he draws interesting analogies to the court's free speach jurisprudence. He tries to show how the more common "gender discrimination" argument doesn't work. I think this part is not 100% convincing, but it is a sophisticated approach. His discussion of the various "slippery slope" objections to gay marriage are also quite good. To my mind the biggest draw-back of this book is that it often makes quite teloscopic reference to other books (including Gerstmann's earlier book) in the place of detailed arguments. This book is not very long as it is, and it probably would have been better servered to give these arguments in more detail rather than just refering to other work as often as it does. This is especially the case for readers who do not have at least some constitutional law background.

Why same-sex marriage is Constitutional.......2005-04-11

Want to read a really good book setting out the case for the Constitutionality of same-sex marriage? This is it.

There are lots of books out there making the argument that recognition of same-sex marriage is a good idea. This is one of very few devoted solely to the case that the Constitution _requires_ such recognition. And it's very well-reasoned.

This book was being prepared for publication as _Lawrence v. Texas_ was decided, so you might think it would be outdated. But it isn't; that decision reinforces Gerstmann's analysis almost point by point.

I say 'almost' because _Lawrence_ was decided under the Due Process Clause, whereas Gerstmann thinks that fundamental rights are better regarded as founded in the Equal Protection Clause. (I disagree with him there, by the way, and I also wonder why he doesn't consider the Privileges and Immunities Clause. On the other hand, he gets extra credit for favorably considering the Ninth Amendment.)

But in the end it doesn't matter, because Gerstmann's argument is firmly grounded in the fact that the Supreme Court has long recognized the right to marry as a fundamental right. (Where that right is 'located' in the Constitution is a separate and subsidiary question.) This fundamental-right approach yields, on Gerstmann's view (and mine), a much more tenable analysis than the more common equal-protection approach. (And of course _Lawrence_ relied on a liberty-rights analysis in striking down state anti-'sodomy' laws -- which is why Gerstmann's analysis gets a fresh boost from that landmark decision.)

There are lots of other analytical treats throughout. For example, Gerstmann devotes the better part of a chapter to an argument that _Loving v. Virginia_ doesn't really provide a good analogy to same-sex marriage. He faces head-on the problems associated with judicial 'creation' of rights and offers a four-point pragmatic test for when it's okay. And he dismantles 'original intent'-based Constitutional interpretation by taking on the most capable and nuanced of its defenders.

(He also does a bang-up job setting out all the things that are _wrong_ with reliance on current Equal Protection jurisprudence. That won't surprise readers of Gerstmann's earlier book, _The Constitutional Underclass_, which I also highly recommend.)

But the best (and most important) part by far is the analysis of the right to marry as a fundamental right that encompasses same-sex marriage. This portion of Gerstmann's analysis should _gain_ in importance as post-_Lawrence_ courts address the Constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans. (And so should his argument that proponents of same-sex marriage should hold out for full-blown _marriage_ rather than, as William Eskridge has counselled, be at least temporarily satisfied with 'domestic partnerships' or 'civil unions'.)

My own opinion is that recognition of same-sex civil marriages is indeed required under the Constitution -- and since I held that opinion before reading Gerstmann's book, I may not be a good test of his persuasiveness. (I'm also a lawyer, so I can't tell you how 'readable' the book will be for non-lawyers.) But I find Gerstmann's argument cogent and, for the most part, right on the money.

A legal book for everyone.......2005-02-08

This fascinating book is cogent, well argued and a straight-forward read. It is clearly targeted at lawyers, but is very accessible by the lay audience.

The author, a law professor, originally set out to prove that there is no Constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and became convinced, while doing his research, that he was wrong.

He argues strongly the Supreme Court has established a Fundamental Right To Marry and there is no reasonable legal defense against extending that right to same-sex couples.

What's Wrong With Microphysicalism? (International Library of Philosophy)

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What's Wrong With Microphysicalism? (International Library of Philosophy)
Andre Huttemann
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Consciousness & Thought | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0415327946

Book Description

Microphysicalism, the view that whole objects behave the way they do in virtue of the behavior of their constituent parts, is an influential contemporary view with a long philosophical and scientific heritage. In What's Wrong With Microphysicalism? Andreas Huttemann offers a fresh challenge to this view.

Huttemann agrees with the microphysicalists that we can explain compound systems by explaining their parts, but claims that this does not entail that the parts determine the whole. At most, it shows that there is a relationship of determination within parts and wholes, but there is no justification for taking this relationship to be asymmetrical rather than one of mutual dependence. Huttemann argues that if this is the case, then microphysicalists have no right to claim that the micro-level is the ultimate agent: neither the parts nor the whole have "ontological priority." Huttemann advocates a pragmatic pluralism, allowing for different ways to describe nature.

In the course of his argument, Huttemann examines three compound theses of micro-physicalism: micro-determination (or "supervenience"), micro-government, and micro-causation. He uses examples from classical and quantum physics to illustrate various senses of micro-explanation, and discusses the likelihood of emergent phenomena or properties. He distinguishes between microphysicalism and other forms of physicalism, such as identity-physicalism, and argues that we can buy into the latter while rejecting microphysicalism.

What's Wrong With Microphysicalism? is a convincing and original contribution to central issues in contemporary philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and metaphysics.

Structure and Dynamics: An Atomic View of Materials (Condensed Matter Physics)

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Structure and Dynamics: An Atomic View of Materials (Condensed Matter Physics)
Martin T. Dove
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Crystallography | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Band Theory and Electronic Properties of Solids (Oxford Master Series in Condensed Matter Physics)
Optical Properties of Solids (Oxford Master Series in Physics)
Magnetism in Condensed Matter (Oxford Maser Series in Condensed Matter Physics)
Superconductivity, Superfluids, and Condensates (Oxford Master Series in Condensed Matter Physics)
Atomic Physics (Oxford Master Series in Atomic, Optical and Laser Physics)

ASIN: 0198506783

Book Description

This book is concerned with a wide range of general principles that govern the behaviour of atoms in solids, and these principles are applied to the full range of types of materials known to man. The dual focus is on the structures of materials at an atomic level and on how the atoms vibrate inside solids. This dual focus comes together to explore how the atomic principles determine the behaviour and properties of materials. Attention is also given to experimental methods. The general principles include the factors that determine the packing of atoms to form the huge variety of structures, the formal description of real and reciprocal space, the types of atomic bonding, the formalism of atomic vibrations, and the theories of phase transitions. The tools covered include diffraction and spectroscopy, both laboratory and large-scale facilities.

Law, Anthropology, and the Constitution of the Social: Making Persons and Things (Cambridge Studies in Law and Society)

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Law, Anthropology, and the Constitution of the Social: Making Persons and Things (Cambridge Studies in Law and Society)

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Law | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Law and Anthropology: A Reader (Blackwell Anthologies in Social and Cultural Anthropology)
Rules versus Relationships: The Ethnography of Legal Discourse (Chicago Series in Law and Society)
Practicing Ethnography in Law: New Dialogues, Enduring Methods
Property in Question: Value Transformation in the Global Economy (Wenner Gren International Symposium Series)
Law in Culture and Society

ASIN: 0521539455

Book Description

The product of a collaboration between leading theorists in law and anthropology, this book develops an innovative analysis of legal practices. Specifically, it focuses on how law constructs persons and things, and develops new approaches to the question of ownership. These approaches are of particular value in understanding the cultural impact of biotechnology. At the same time, they illuminate the history of Western law, and develop thought-provoking comparisons between Western law and Islamic law.

Average customer rating:

Incredibly interesting, but contains factual errors
There's nothing the matter with this book!

Eyewitness Science: Matter
Christopher Cooper
Manufacturer: DK CHILDREN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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Chemistry (DK Eyewitness Books)
Eyewitness: Force & Motion
Eyewitness: Energy
Electricity (DK Eyewitness Books)
Eyewitness: Light

ASIN: 1879431882

Book Description

What are the primary four elements? How was the atom discovered? Find out the answers to these and other questions in this look at matter.

Customer Reviews:

Incredibly interesting, but contains factual errors.......2005-10-15

On a certain page of "Matter" a callout next to a picture of a glass lens states that "glass flows over time". This is a widely believed myth that is simply not true. The "evidence" for the liquid nature of glass comes from old church and cathedral windows that appear to be thicker at the bottom as the glass has flowed over the centuries. This is not the case. Here is why they are thicker at the bottom:

"In Mediaeval times panes of glass were often made by the Crown glass process. A lump of molten glass was rolled, blown, expanded, flattened and finally spun into a disc before being cut into panes. The sheets were thicker towards the edge of the disc and were usually installed with the heavier side at the bottom."

Examples of other pieces of ancient glassware (Roman, etc.) exhibit no signs of glass "flow".

There's nothing the matter with this book!.......2002-09-11

"Eyewitness Matter" tells everything about Matter. It has chapters on solid matter, liquid matter and gas matter, plus chapters on molecules in motion, crystals, hot matter and more! All of the chapters in the book have descriptive information on the topics in Matter. If you have gotten the other Eyewitness Science Series books, then make sure you have this one.

Essential Elements: Atoms, Quarks, and the Periodic Table (Wooden Books)

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Good, but not useful
Totally original
Should have had a chemist review your manuscript.
A Wonderful Little Book!

Essential Elements: Atoms, Quarks, and the Periodic Table (Wooden Books)
Matt Tweed
Manufacturer: Walker & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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Compact Cosmos: A Journey Through Space and Time (Wooden Books)
Sacred Number: The Secret Quality of Quantities (Wooden Books)
Li: Dynamic Form in Nature (Wooden Books)
The Human Body: A Basic Guide to the Way You Fit Together (Wooden Books)
Harmonograph: A Visual Guide to the Mathematics of Music (Wooden Books)

ASIN: 0802714080

Book Description

For anyone interested in the tiny building blocks of our universe, Matt Tweed-the illustrator of Useful Mathematical & Physical Formulae-offers a fascinating introduction to the complex and beautiful world of the elements. Tweed reveals the principal properties and interactions of substances familiar (carbon, oxygen, water) and unfamiliar (rare earth elements and subatomic particles). He explains atomic bonding, radioactivity, and DNA, and presents alternative ways of visualizing the periodic table, as well as a succinct synthesis of the Big Bang. Scientists and laymen alike will be entranced.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but not useful.......2007-05-07

The book very briefly lists our current knowledge of the atomic world.

The issue I have is that for those who are even vaguely familiar with the subject already, the book provides no more knowledge. For those who are not familiar, they would albeit get to know about the terms used in Physics, but would gain no appreciation or true understanding of it. (In the sense that you learn that the Earth is round, but appreciating this fact requires understanding how mankind learned that, and what kind of surprise it was for them to learn this.)

Feynman once asked his father why the ball on the top of his toy truck moves backwards (with respect to the truck) if he pushes the truck forward. His father answered that nobody knows! He could have said that it is because of inertia blah blah. But that does not answer the question, it only gives new terminology to ask the same question all over again (what is inertia).

By telling Feynman that the answer is not known, his father developed his curiosity and simultaneously prevented him from developing biases.

This book gives you all the answers without making you appreciate how all that came about. Its doing exactly the opposite of what Feynman's father did to him.

By the way: I have read a few other books from the Wooden Books series. I usually love them.

Totally original.......2004-05-25

This is a really fun book. It successfully manages to get across the massive amount of weirdness down in the smaller end of things. My sons love it. Some of the pictures are the best I've seen anywhere. A little bit of a pity it didn't go into bond angles and so organic chemistry (lack of space I guess), and, as another reviewer has noted, there are some weak places ... but I just love the feel of the book, the way the subjects have been handled, and, unlike so many 'popular' chemistry books, this one at least has a beautifully designed periodic table at the back! Really highly recommended for kids or for adults who need their science refreshing.

Should have had a chemist review your manuscript........2004-01-20

This is a "cute" book for its' size and illustrations. Not especially informative, but I suppose it wasn't meant to be.
However, it should not make gross mistatements such as found on page 6: ie., Isotopes of the same element can have radically diverse chemical properties.
Chemical properties of an element are the result of the electronic arrangement of its' orbiting electrons. All isotopes of a particular element have the same orbiting electron arrangement, thus the same chemical properties.
The isotopes of a given element have different masses due to the different number of neutrons in their nuclei. For this reason, physical methods are used to separate the various isotopes of a given element.

A Wonderful Little Book!.......2003-06-30

Tiny and almost like a child's book, this puppy helped me catch up with all the new stuff that's been going on in the world of physics since I took the subject in high school decades ago. Only slightly larger than a CD jewel case and only 58 pages - and half of those are filled with diagrams - it still took me the better part of my Sunday morning to read and comprehend it. I was particularly impressed with the last page: a graphic representation of 36 different electron orbitals. I also liked the alternatives to the periodic tables that he offers. And his depiction of the universe since the Big Bang is enlightening. I finished the book amazed at how much of everything is nothing.

The author also has added a sense of playfulness to the diagrams (and occasionally, the text) that helps to keep this subject from turning into the snoozer it traditionally is. Now I know why all those nerdy, high-end mathematician-types are so passionate about their work!

Book Description

The United States Constitution was designed to secure the rights of individuals and minorities from the tyranny of the majority—or was it? Jennifer Nedelsky's provocative study places this claim in an utterly new light, tracing its origins to the Framers' preoccupation with the protection of private property. She argues that this formative focus on property has shaped our institutions, our political system, and our very understanding of limited government.

Gaining Ground: Land Reform & The Constitution Of Community (Thela Latin America Series)

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Gaining Ground: Land Reform & The Constitution Of Community (Thela Latin America Series)
Gemma Van Der Haar
Manufacturer: Purdue University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

This book explores a much-neglected field in the contemporary history of Chiapas. Land reform is generally believed to have played only a minor role in this state and in debates on the Zapatista uprising of 1994, the lack of land reform typically features

Producers Versus Capitalists: Constitutional Conflict in Antebellum America (Constitutionalism and Democracy)

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Producers Versus Capitalists: Constitutional Conflict in Antebellum America (Constitutionalism and Democracy)
Tony Allan Freyer
Manufacturer: University of Virginia Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0813914965

Liberty, Property, and Government: Constitutional Interpretation Before the New Deal (Suny Series in the Constitution and Economic Rights)

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Liberty, Property, and Government: Constitutional Interpretation Before the New Deal (Suny Series in the Constitution and Economic Rights)
Ellen Frankel Paul
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0791400867

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