Democracy by decree: what happens when courts run government
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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sandler, Ross (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: New Haven Yale University Press c2003
Subjects:
Online Access:FAW01
FAW02
Volltext
Item Description:Includes bibliographical references and index
How courts came to govern -- How Congress creates rights -- How courts enforce rights -- Something new is going on in court -- How court management works -- A good thing gone wrong -- Why the wrong thing continues -- Road to reform -- New principles
Schools, welfare agencies, and a wide variety of other state and local institutions of vital importance to US citizens are actually controlled by attorneys and judges rather than governors and mayors. In this text, Ross Sandler and David Schoenbrod explain how this has come to pass, why it has resulted in service to the public that is worse, not better, and what can be done to restore control of these programmes to democratically elected, and accountable, officials. Sandler and Schoenbrod tell how the courts, with the best intentions and often with the approval of elected officials, came to control ordinary policy making through court decrees. These court regimes, they assert, impose rigid and often ancient detailed plans that can flounder on reality. Newly elected officials, who may wish to alter the plans in response to the changing wishes of voters, cannot do so unless attorneys, court-appointed functionaries and lower-echelon officials agree. The result is neither judicial government nor good government, say Sandler and Schoenbrod, and they offer practical reforms that would set governments free from this judicial stranglehold, allow courts to do their legitimate job of protecting rights, and strengthen democracy
Physical Description:1 Online-Ressource (vii, 280 p.)
ISBN:0300092725
0300129130
1281729469
9780300092721
9780300129137
9781281729460

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