Legality and Legitimacy in \u3cem\u3eDred Scott\u3c/em\u3e: The Crisis of the Incomplete Constitution

The original Constitution was incomplete in that it contained a disparity between the principles of legitimacy of the system and the legality of the institution of slavery. Political communities marked by such disharmony are beset with pressures to make the system consistent in one way or another. Such indeed was the fate of the U.S. during the antebellum era. Three typical responses arose: to make legality correspond to legality (by redefining the principles of legitimacy of the system), to make legality conform to legitimacy (by doing away with slavery), or to maintain the tension in ever more creative ways. The Dred Scott case represents a late stage of this dynamic process—seven of the Justices chose one or another version of the legality-over-legitimacy strategy, one chose a nascent version of the legitimacy-over-legality position, and only one worked to reaffirm the original constitutional tension between legality and legitimacy

Book Review: The Politics of Judicial Interpretation: The Federal Courts, Department of Justice and Civil Rights, 1866-1876. by Robert J. Kaczorowski; No State Shall Abridge: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights. by Michael Kent Curtis; the Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights. by Raoul Berger.

Book review: The Politics of Judicial Interpretation: The Federal Courts, Department of Justice and Civil Rights, 1866-1876. By Robert J. Kaczorowski. New York: Oceana Publications. 1985. Pp. xxiv, 241 ; No State Shall Abridge: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights. By Michael Kent Curtis. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. 1986. Pp. xxii, 275 ; The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights. By Raoul Berger. Norman, OK.: University of Oklahoma Press. 1989. Pp. x, 169. Reviewed by: Michael Zuckert

Book Review: Civil Rights, the Constitution, and Congress, 1863-1869. by Earl M. Maltz.

Book review: Civil Rights, the Constitution, and Congress, 1863-1869. By Earl M. Maltz. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. 1990. Pp. xiii, 198. Reviewed by: Michael P. Zuckert

Book Review: Individuals and Their Rights. by Tibor Machan.

Book review: Individuals and Their Rights. By Tibor Machan. LaSalle, Ill.: Open Court Publishing Co. 1989. Pp. xviii, 250. Reviewed by: Michael Zuckert

Book Review: Louis D. Brandeis. by Philippa Strum; Brandeis and Frankfurter. by Leonard Baker.

Book review: Louis D. Brandeis. By Philippa Strum. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1984. Pp. xv, 508 ; Brandeis and Frankfurter. By Leonard Baker, New York: Harper and Row. 1984. Pp. 567. Reviewed by: Michael P. Zuckert