1st Edition
The U.S. Supreme Court and Contemporary Constitutional Law The Obama Era and Its Legacy
This book analyzes developments in the jurisprudence of the US Supreme Court in the Obama era. It follows three main threads. First, it seeks to describe and characterize the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence in this period. Second, it assesses factors influencing developments in the jurisprudence. Finally, it draws broader lessons on how constitutional change works. As the oldest surviving written constitution among Western democracies, and despite having high hurdles for textual changes, the US Constitution has proved to be remarkably flexible. The main reason for this flexibility is the interpretation by the US Supreme Court. This book teases out the mechanism of how the Court manages to maintain this flexibility. Bringing together legal scholars from the United States and Europe who focus on different aspects of the Court’s jurisprudence, the work consists of five parts. Part I analyzes the relationship of the Supreme Court with the democratic process. Part II deals with the jurisprudence on fundamental rights. Part III looks at constitutional aspects of international relations. Part IV offers comparative perspectives with Germany.
The book provides a valuable reference for academics and researchers in constitutional law and legal history.
1. Introduction, Anna-Bettina Kaiser, Niels Petersen & Johannes Saurer; 2. What Does the Supreme Court Do? Samuel Issacharoff; 3. Politics, Polarization, and the U.S. Supreme Court, Moohyung Cho, Jason Douglas Todd & Georg Vanberg; 4. Presidential Administration in the Obama Era, Jud Mathews; 5. Campaign Finance and Freedom of Speech – A Transatlantic Perspective, Mathias Hong; 6. Key Federalism Cases During the Obama Presidency, Patricia Egli; 7. Immigration Law in the Obama Era, Amanda Frost; 8. All Same-Sex Marriage Is not the Same: Obergefell from a Comparative Perspective, Michaela Hailbronner; 9. The Second Amendment and the Debate on Originalism, Oliver Lepsius; 10. The Obama Era: Freedom of Religion, Antje von Ungern-Sternberg; 11. "Faraway, So Close!" – A Constitutional Perspective on Transatlantic Data Flow Regulation, Thomas Wischmeyer; 12. TTIP and the Challenges of Investor-State-Arbitration: An Exercise in Comparative Foreign Relations Law, Thomas Kleinlein; 13. Transnational Litigation and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction: Domestic Remedies for International Wrongs, Marc Jacob; 14. Comparing Courts, Susanne Baer; 15. An American Perspective on the German Constitutional Court, Justin Collings; Table of Cases; Contributors;
Biography
Anna-Bettina Kaiser, Professor of Public Law and Foundations of Law, Law Faculty Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
Niels Petersen, Professor of Public Law, International Law and EU Law, University of Münster, Germany.
Johannes Saurer, Professor, Chair for Public Law, Environmental Law, Law of Infrastructure and Comparative Law, University of Tübingen, Germany.
