Book

Amar, Akhil Reed.

For the people : what the constitution really says about your rights / Akhil Reed Amar and Alan Hirsch.

New York : Free Press, ©1998.

xxi, 259 pages ; 25 cm

When serving on a jury, can you ever interpret the Constitution yourself? When threatened by your city's taking of your property, do you have any recourse aside from lobbying or voting the bums out in the next election? If you disagree with a Supreme Court decision, is there anything you can do? In this bold and groundbreaking book, Akhil Reed Amar and Alan Hirsch answer "yes" to these questions and invite you to rediscover your Constitution. Over time, our rich constitutional rights have been obscured, along with this essential truth: We own our government, and government officials operate at our discretion. To preserve that ownership, the Framers of the Constitution gave the People crucial rights and responsibilities - which, regrettably, have faded from view. At the ballot box, in the Jury room, and on the battlefield, the People wield far more rights than we generally realize. We - all of us, black and white, male and female, straight and gay - are sovereign in our own nation. We are the rulers; government officials are our servants. It is high time to rediscover the true meaning of our Constitution.

Constitutional law -- United States -- Popular works.

Civil rights -- United States -- Popular works.

Constitutional amendments.

Hirsch, Alan, 1959-

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-251) and index.

The people's right to amend the constitution -- Why amendment by the people is not dangerous -- The right to make state law by plebiscite -- The jury: what's the big idea? -- The constitutional right to serve on juries -- The unconstitutionality of peremptory challenges -- Rethinking the for-cause dismissal -- The right of young adults to serve on juries -- Jury review -- Jury nullification -- The public's right to a jury trial -- Suing our servants -- National security: the constitutional design -- The constitutional right to serve in the military -- Gays in the military --Women in combat -- The unconstitutionality of a national draft -- The right to bear arms -- Forty acres and a mule.

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