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Silverstein's Allure

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GordonSilverstein. 2009. Law's Allure: How Law Shapes, Constrains, Saves, and Kills Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press. Pp. xiii + 322. $80.00 cloth; $23.99 paper.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

R. Shep Melnick
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Abstract

Using multiple case studies, Gordon Silverstein'sLaw's Allure (2009) examines the many ways in which courts interact with other governing institutions. He convincingly argues that legal advocates fare best when they use the leverage created by courtroom victories to increase their influence in other arenas, particularly legislatures. His more ambitious effort to explain when court intervention improves rather than displaces politics is less successful. He favors using court decisions as battering rams to break through the institutional barriers created by our allegedly outmoded Constitution. Such an open‐ended justification for judicial policy making places virtually no limits on the juridification that Silverstein decries for distorting democratic politics.

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Type
Review Essay
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , Fall 2010, pp. 1053 - 1063
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2010 

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References

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Cases Cited

Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., 582 F.3d 309 (2d Cir. 2009), reversing 406 F. Supp. 2d 265 (S.D.N.Y. 2005), petition for rehearing en banc filed, No. 05‐5104 (2d Cir. Nov. 17, 2009).Google Scholar
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