American Constitutionalism, Marriage, and the Family: Obergefell v. Hodges and U.S. v. Windsor in Context

by Patrick N. Cain (Editor), David Ramsey (Editor), Stephen A. Block (Contribution by), Patrick N. Cain (Contribution by), Adam M. Carrington (Contribution by)

Overview

This edited volume in American constitutionalism places the Supreme Court’s declaration of same-sex marriage rights in U.S. v. Windsor (2013) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) within the context of the Court’s developing understanding of the legal and social status of marriage and the family. Leading scholars in the fields of political science, law, and religion examine the roots of the Court’s affirmation of same-sex rights in a number of areas related to marriage and the family including the right to marry, equality and happiness in marriage, the right to privacy, freedom of association, property rights, parental power, and reproductive rights. Taken together, these essays evaluate the extent to which the Court’s recent marriage rulings both break with and derive from the competing principles of American Constitutionalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498528184
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	04/21/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Patrick N. Cain is associate professor of political science at Lakehead University.

David Ramsey is assistant professor of government and pre-law advisor at the University of West Florida.

Table of Contents

Introduction, Patrick N. Cain and David Ramsey
Chapter One: Defending the Christian Idea of Marriage Today: The Place of the Personal Logos, Peter Augustine Lawler
Chapter Two: The Household and the City in Classical Political Philosophy and in John Witte, Jr.’s Account of History of Western Jurisprudence, Terence J. Kleven
Chapter Three: The Triumph of the Right of Intimate Association, William C. Duncan
Chapter Four: Free and Happy Bonds: Loving v. Virginia’s Nineteenth Century Precedent on Marriage and the Pursuit of Happiness, Adam M. Carrington
Chapter Five: On the Marriage of Dred Scott, David Ramsey
Chapter Six: Back to the Future: Reynolds Revisited and the Structure of the American Family, Martha Rice Martini
Chapter Seven: Sterilization, Reproductive Rights, and the Ninth Amendment, Lauren K. Hall
Chapter Eight: Limited Government and the Family: Rival Jurisprudential Models, Mark A. Scully
Chapter Nine: Liberalism, the Family, and the Right to Privacy: Griswold v. Connecticut and Its Progeny, Stephen A. Block
Chapter Ten: Liberty, Obergefell and the Privacy Doctrine, Patrick N. Cain
Chapter Eleven: Democracy in Justice Kennedy’s America: Reading Obergefell with Tocqueville, Susan McWilliams
Chapter Twelve: Parenthood and Procreation, Scott Yenor
Chapter Thirteen: Does the Law and the Constitution of the Family Have to Change?, James R. Stoner, Jr.
Appendix: Cited Supreme Court Cases

Editorial Reviews

The volume adds voices that manage to add something to a crowded conversation. Informed by a subtle and gentle skepticism toward the legal trajectory leading to Obergefell, they have something to offer both friends and foes of the stunning social and legal changes of the past half century.

American Political Thought

[This book] is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in the complicated legal, philosophical, and historical issues that are behind our contemporary debates about marriage and the family. Unfortunately, the way these debates are often conducted online, in public, and at universities and colleges—usually accompanied by rhetorical excesses and personal recriminations—they rarely reveal that the plausibility of each side’s case depends on deeper principles that are far from uncontroversial. In this regard, American Constitutionalism, Marriage, and the Family is a breath of fresh air.

Interpretation

Most citizens regard the Supreme Court’s decisions in Windsor and Obergefell as an unqualified victory for an expanded view of marriage and the family. However, the essays in this book raise very thoughtful and provocative questions about the merits of the Court’s reasoning and the consequences that the decision entails for the future. Most importantly, these essays reflect on a wide range of philosophical, political, and cultural implications for the Court’s understanding of social institutions in general and the philosophical question of the family’s compatibility with liberalism. Regardless of one’s views regarding the proper constitution of marriage and the family, the reader will gain an enormous insight into this subject from the intellectual probity of this collection.

J. David Alvis

The contemporary debate over marriage often begins and ends with the assumption that marriage is a matter of individual right or choice. The authors of this volume agree that this theory has long and distinguished pedigree in American law, but in a thoughtful and nuanced way they go on to show that this is much too simplistic view of our history. The law recognizes marriage not merely to affirm individual choices, but also because the institution of marriage serves important public purposes. By recovering this tradition, the authors encourage us to take a fresh and more sophisticated look at the role of marriage in contemporary society. We owe a great debt to these authors who have enriched both the public and the academic debate on this important issue.

David Clinton