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Officers' Rights: Toward a Unified Field Theory of American Constitutional Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Karen Orren
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Abstract

The changing rights of legally designated officers provides a comprehensive framework for following American constitutional development over time, in both public and private settings. Rights are defined as judicially enforceable claims on the person or actions of another; development, as enduring change in constitutional provision, structure, and doctrine. It is proposed that constitutional development as a historical process has consisted of a shift in the balance between the rights of officers and the rights of citizens. The framework is demonstrated empirically in connection with the Bill of Rights, federalism, and the separation of powers. Officers' rights is recommended as a method for studying constitutions comparatively and for linking constitutional development to other political events and phenomena like social movements and parties.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , 2000 , pp. 873 - 909
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Law and Society Association

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Footnotes

Earlier versions of this article were presented at American politics workshops at Columbia University, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-San Diego, University of Southern California, and Yale University. For assistance and criticism, I am indebted to Kevin Finney, David Karol, Pam Singh, Adam Winkler, Joyce Appleby, Eileen McDonagh, Leslie Goldstein, Mark Graber, William Novak, Carroll Seron, Stephen Skowronek, Sylvia Snowiss, Mark Tushnet, Ellen Wood, and Jonathan Zasloff.

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