| ID | 130960 |
| Title Proper | Contesting the U.S. constitution through state amendments: the 2011 and 2012 elections |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Beienburg, Sean |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | IN MARCH OF 2013, REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS in North Dakota agreed to challenge Roe v. Wade by forwarding a "personhood" amendment to voters that will appear on the 2014 ballot. Such an amendment would change the state's legal definition of personhood to include unborn fetuses-a move that backers have explicitly discussed as part of a challenge to a Supreme Court decision they view as having been wrongly decided.1 The Court may pronounce itself the final arbiter of the Constitution, but Americans outside of Washington, DC do not necessarily agree.2
Such efforts by state actors to take the Constitution away from the courts mirror a recent shift in political-legal scholarship, in which court-centered accounts of constitutional interpretation and construction have been rightly condemned.3 Scholars have turned instead toward a renewed emphasis on the political contestation of non-judicial actors in enforcing the Constitution |
| `In' analytical Note | Political Science Quarterly Vol.129, No.1; Spring 2014: p.55-85 |
| Journal Source | Political Science Quarterly Vol.129, No.1; Spring 2014: p.55-85 |
| Key Words | United States - US ; Democracy ; Elections ; State Amendments ; Legislation ; Constitution ; Politics ; Supreme Court - US ; Unborn Fetuses ; Legal Definitions ; Political Contestation ; Judicial Supremacy ; Non-Judicial Actor ; Judicial Actor ; Political Actor |