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 Democracy By Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government
Ross Sandler & David Schoenbrod
Yale, January 2003
New York Law School professors Ross Sandler and David Schoenbrod have written
a thoughtful account of what happens when courts run government. With fascinating
blow-by-blow accounts, they expose how advocates for one interest group inevitably
undermine the interests of others and thwart the ability of those in responsiblity
to balance interests for the common good.
Book Description:
Schools, welfare agencies, and a wide variety of other state and local institutions
of vital importance to citizens are actually controlled by attorneys and judges
rather than governors and mayors. In this valuable book, Ross Sandler and David
Schoenbrod explain how this has come to pass, why it has resulted in service to
the public that is worse, not better, and what can be done to restore control
of these programs to democratically elected-and accountable-officials.
Sandler and Schoenbrod tell how the courts, with the best intentions and often
with the approval of elected officials, came to control ordinary policy making
through court decrees. These court regimes, they assert, impose rigid and often
ancient detailed plans that can founder on reality. Newly elected officials, who
may wish to alter the plans in response to the changing wishes of voters, cannot
do so unless attorneys, court-appointed functionaries, and lower-echelon officials
agree. The result is neither judicial government nor good government, say Sandler
and Schoenbrod, and they offer practical reforms that would set governments free
from this judicial stranglehold, allow courts to do their legitimate job of protecting
rights, and strengthen democracy.
When you buy Democracy By Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government using the Amazon.com link above, a portion of the profits will go to support
Common Good. | |
