Why Does a Moderate/Conservative Supreme Court in a Conservative Age Expand Gay Rights?: Lawrence v. Texas (2003) in Legal and Political Time
Abstract
Legalists and social scientists have not been able to explain the expansion of gay rights in a conservative age because they refuse to respect the special qualities of judicial decision making. These qualities require the Supreme Court to look simultaneously at the past, present, and future, and, most importantly, to determine questions of individual rights through a consideration of how citizens are to live under a continuing rights regime. Unless scholars understand how and why Supreme Court decision making differs from that of more directly politically accountable institutions we can expect no greater success in explaining or predicting individual rights in the future.
Repository Citation
Kahn, Ron. 2008. "Why Does a Moderate/Conservative Supreme Court in a Conservative Age Expand Gay Rights?: Lawrence v. Texas (2003) in Legal and Political Time." Studies in Law, Politics and Society 44: 173-217.
Publisher
Jai Press
Publication Date
1-1-2008
Publication Title
Studies in Law, Politics and Society
Department
Politics
Document Type
Article
DOI
10.1016/S1059-4337(08)00806-5
ISBN
9780762314867
Language
English
Format
text
