A Distinct Judicial Power

This is a delightful book. Scott Douglas Gerber acknowledges from the start that he has been an active participant in debates about the proper role of the federal judiciary in the American system of government. He opposes what he identifies as a heavily supported contemporary concept of “popular constitutionalism” (p. 3). Thus, he writes: “The principal aim of my book is to shed light on the federal model by exploring the experiences of the original states. My objective, quite simply, is to identify the origins of Article III” (pp. xiv–xv). He has a secondary purpose, one that follows closely after the origins, the matter of defining judges' duties, with special attention to their power of judicial review. From that general intention, Gerber moves easily into a history of the notion of judicial review. Beginning with Aristotle, Gerber tracks the emergence of that notion and concludes with John Adams. Of Adams, Gerber writes that he was “the American founding's most sophisticated, political theorist” (p. 24). Thus, even though Adams was not at the 1787 Philadelphia convention, Gerber closes the first part of his book by noting the important role that Adams played in the debates about the Constitution

Constitution · Constitutionalism · Convention · Democracy · Judicial Independence · Judicial review · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Principal (computer security · Separation of powers · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies

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