Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- TOWARD A THEORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
- PART ONE THE MORALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
- PART TWO FROM MORALITY TO LAW
- PART THREE FROM LAW TO COURTS
- 8 Protecting Human Rights in a Democracy: What Role for the Courts?
- 9 How Should the Supreme Court Rule? Capital Punishment, Abortion, and Same-Sex Unions
- Summation
- Notes
- Index
8 - Protecting Human Rights in a Democracy: What Role for the Courts?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- TOWARD A THEORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
- PART ONE THE MORALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
- PART TWO FROM MORALITY TO LAW
- PART THREE FROM LAW TO COURTS
- 8 Protecting Human Rights in a Democracy: What Role for the Courts?
- 9 How Should the Supreme Court Rule? Capital Punishment, Abortion, and Same-Sex Unions
- Summation
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Preliminary clarification. In the Introduction to this book, I confessed to a bias against moral-rights-talk. So it bears emphasizing that when I refer to “human rights” in this chapter and the next one, I am referring to legal rights. Put another way, I am referring to human rights laws – in particular, to human rights laws directed at government. Such laws – for example, a law forbidding government to deny the freedom of speech, or one requiring government to provide due process of law – are my principal concern in this chapter.
INTRODUCTION
In the preceding three chapters, I inquired as to whether we who affirm the morality of human rights – who affirm that each and every (born) human being has inherent dignity and is inviolable – should use the political freedom we enjoy as citizens of a liberal democracy to press our elected representatives to abolish capital punishment (Chapter 5), to ban at least some abortions (Chapter 6), and/or to extend the benefit of law to same-sex unions (Chapter 7). In this chapter, I inquire into what role we should want the courts to play, if any, in determining public policy with respect to capital punishment, abortion, same-sex unions, and other morally controversial practices.
In liberal democracies with judicially enforceable constitutions – meaning most liberal democracies – questions about public policy often become entwined with questions about constitutionality.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Toward a Theory of Human RightsReligion, Law, Courts, pp. 87 - 117Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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