The judge in a democracy - Barak, Aharon (Princeton University Press, 2006)
Includes bibliographical references and index
Bridging the gap between law and society -- Protection the Constitution and democracy -- Preconditions for realizing the judicial role -- The meaning of means -- Interpretation -- The development of the common law -- Balancing and weighing -- Non-justiciability, or "political questions" -- Standing -- Comparative law -- The judgment -- Tension among the branches -- The relationship between the judiciary and the legislature -- The relationship between the judiciary and the executive -- Activism and self-restraint -- The judicial role and the problem of terrorism -- The role of the judge: Theory, practice, and the future
Whether examining election outcomes, the legal status of terrorism suspects, or if (or how) people can be sentenced to death, a judge in a modern democracy assumes a role that raises some of the most contentious political issues of our day. But do judges even have a role beyond deciding the disputes before them under law? What are the criteria for judging the justices who write opinions for the United States Supreme Court or constitutional courts in other democracies? These are the questions that one of the world's foremost judges and legal theorists, Aharon Barak, poses in this book. In fluen