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Constitutional politics: Interpretive activity in America
Abstract
This dissertation calls on the public law field to expand its focus beyond courts, especially the Supreme Court, to take account of constitutional interpretative activity taking place elsewhere. The field's narrow focus on courts leads us astray in our attempts to explain American constitutionalism fully. The talk on the Constitution taking place in the academy, the Congress, the community, and state legislative forums is part of the activity which has mistakenly been ignored as interpretive practice by the public law field. This work restructures the framework of analysis to explain the larger picture of American constitutional politics. I do four case studies of this politics using textual qualitative analysis of conference papers, legal briefs, proselytizing tracts, and legislative testimony to look at an academic conference, community struggles against corporate disinvest, Congress's interpretive practice, and a state legislature's vote against calling for a constitutional convention. The first study is of a conference held in celebration of the Bicentennial of the Constitution. This conference expands sources for constitutional meaning as it recalls 19th century Reconstruction era constitutional debates. The second study is of movement activity to establish a constitutional property right to stem the tide of corporate disinvestment. Workers and communities have constructed a constitutional claim that they have a right to save jobs. Congress' institution of its own law offices to join the Supreme Court in constitutional debate is the subject of the third study. With the formation of its own law offices, Congress has established control over its constitutional arguments before the Court. Finally, I look at testimony taken by the Connecticut General Assembly on the call for a second constitutional convention. This testimony reveals a quasi-religious attachment of Americans to their document. Rather than representing a deep commitment to democracy, however, it appears to represent an impediment to it. All of this activity is part of American constitutional interpretive activity but traditionally has not been understood as such. In giving new definition to this activity, I expand the framework of analysis of constitutional interpretive activity and our understanding of it.
Subject Area
Political science|Law
Recommended Citation
Rippey, Phyllis Farley, "Constitutional politics: Interpretive activity in America" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9110207.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9110207