Clashing Worldviews in the U.S. Supreme Court: Rehnquist vs. Blackmun

by James Davids, Erik Gustafson, Sherena Arrington

Overview

Contrasting two Protestant justices who hold distinctively different worldviews, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Harry A. Blackmun, this book explores how each came to hold his worldview, how each applied it in Supreme Court rulings, and how it led them to differing outcomes for liberty, equality, and justice. This clash of worldviews between Rehnquist, whose religious and philosophical influences were anchored in the Reformation, and Blackmun, whose Reformation theology was modified by Enlightenment philosophy, provide the context to examine the true nature of justice, liberty, and equality and to consider how such ideals can be maintained in a society with increasingly divergent worldviews.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498570602
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	10/19/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	378
File size:	710 KB

About the Author

Jim Davids is a practicing attorney in Virginia and former professor of constitutional law.



Erik Gustafson is adjunct professor at Lake Michigan College and senior pastor at Lake Michigan Christian Center.



Sherena Arrington is a political and public policy consultant in Georgia.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Understanding Competing Worldviews in America
Chapter 2: The Theological Background and Worldview of Justice Blackmun
Chapter 3: Chief Justice William H: Rehnquist’s Theology, Philosophy, and Worldview
Chapter 4: DeShaney in the Shadow of the Fourteenth Amendment
Chapter 5: Zobrest: Aid to All Students, or Only Those Attending Public Schools?
Chapter 6: Kaiser Aetna and the Conservative vs: Progressive Battle of Property Rights
Chapter 7: Webster: Can a State Prohibit the Public Funding of Abortion?
Chapter 8: Bowers: Is Homosexual Conduct Within the Liberties Protected by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause?
Chapter 9: Two Differing Worldviews and Their Implications for Liberty, Equality, and Justice

Editorial Reviews

Jim Davids, Erik Gustafson, and Sherena Arrington have written an important book about how individual worldviews shape not only Supreme Court justices, but all of us. To their credit, these evangelical Protestants with an ‘impulse toward orthodoxy’ reached out to me, a mainline pastor with an ‘impulse toward progressivism’ to offer an endorsement. As I read their thoughtful analysis of how the jurisprudence of Rehnquist and Blackmun captures the essential divides in the Americans culture wars, I was also reminded that until we do the hard work of understanding and respecting one another, we are lost.

Rev. Robin R. Meyers