Product Description 
A unique defense of Federalism, making the case that constitutional law in America--encompassing the systems of all 51 governments--should have a role in assessing the right balance of power among all branches of our state and federal governments.\nEverything in law and politics, including individual rights, comes back to divisions of power and the evergreen question: Who decides? Who wins the disputes of the day often turns on who decides them. And our acceptance of the resolution of those disputes often turns on who the decision maker 
is-because it reveals who governs us.\nIn 
Who Decides, the influential US Appellate Court Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton focuses on the constitutional structure of the American states to answer the question of who should decide the key questions of public policy today. By concentrating on the role of governmental structure in shaping power 
across the 50 American states, Sutton develops a powerful explanation of American constitutional law, in all of its variety, as opposed to just federal constitutional law. As in his earlier book, 
51 Imperfect Solutions, which looked at how American federalism allowed the states to serve as 
laboratories of innovation for protecting individual liberty and property rights, Sutton compares state-level governments with the federal government and draws numerous insights from the comparisons. Instead of focusing on individual rights, however, he focuses on structure, while continuing to 
develop some of the core themes of his previous book.\nAn illuminating and essential sequel to his earlier work on the nature of American federalism, 
Who Decides makes the case that American Constitutional Law should account for the role of the state courts and state constitutions, together with the federal courts and the federal constitution, in 
assessing the right balance of power among all branches of government. Taken together, both books reveal a remarkably complex, nuanced, ever-changing federalist system, one that ought to make lawyers and litigants pause before reflexively assuming that the United States Supreme Court alone has the 
answers to our vexing constitutional questions.\nReview 
"Compared to our well-lit understanding of the development of the U.S. Constitution, how state constitutions have developed is a black box. Jeff Sutton's deep dive inside reveals more of the wonders of American federalism and shows us better how it works." -- Nathan Hecht, President, Conference of 
Chief Justices, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas\n"Jeffrey Sutton, one of America's most distinguished judges, has picked up where he left off with 
51 Imperfect Solutions. In 
Who Decides, he deftly tells the rest of the story, moving from individual constitutional rights to structural constitutional guarantees. Through it all, he confirms the peril 
of thinking about American constitutional law without accounting for the role of the federal and state courts―and the federal and state constitutions―in protecting liberty. Written with grace and verve, this is the rare book that lawyers and non-lawyers alike will savor, learn from, and remember." 
-- Laurence H. Tribe, University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus, Harvard Law School\n"Jeffrey Sutton is both one of America's most distinguished federal judges and a leading scholar of state constitutional law. This sophisticated yet accessible volume highlights important differences between the structure of the federal government (as established by the federal Constitution) and the 
structures of state governments (as established by the various state constitutions). Sutton's analysis is thoughtful and fair-minded, and the book is packed with insights." -- Caleb Nelson, Emerson G. Spies Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia\n"This book helps to explain why Jeffrey Sutton may well be the most widely admired, across the ideological spectrum., of current federal judges. It is an unfailing fair-m

Who Decides?: States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation

Sutton, Jeffrey S.

Constitutional Law

Oxford University Press

In this, the second edition of State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience, the authors present cases, scholarly writings, and other materials about our ever-evolving, ever-more-relevant state charters of government. The casebook starts by placing state constitutions in context―in the context of a federal system that leaves some powers exclusively with the States, delegates some powers exclusively to the Federal Government, and permits overlapping authority by both sovereigns in many areas. The resulting combination of state and federal charters―what might be called American Constitutional Law―presents fruitful opportunities for give and take, for exporting and importing constitutional tools and insights between and among the different sovereigns. The casebook often addresses the point by explaining how the U.S. Constitution deals with an issue before discussing how the state constitutions handle an identical or similar issue. At other times, the casebook explains and illustrates how the state constitutions contain provisions that have no parallel in the U.S. Constitution. A central theme of the book, explored in the context of a variety of constitutional guarantees, is that state constitutions provide a rich source of rights independent of the federal constitution. Considerable space is devoted to the reasons why a state court might construe the liberty and property rights found in their constitutions, to use two prominent examples, more broadly than comparable rights found in the U.S. Constitution. Among the reasons considered are: differences in the text between the state and federal constitutional provisions, the smaller scope of the state courts’ jurisdiction, state constitutional history, unique state traditions and customs, and disagreement with the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of similar language. State constitutional law, like its federal counterpart, is not confined to individual rights. The casebook also explores the organization and structure of state and local governments, the method of choosing state judges, the many executive-branch powers found in state constitutions but not in their federal counterpart, the ease with which most state constitutions can be amended, and other topics, such as taxation, public finance and school funding. The casebook is not parochial. It looks at these issues through the lens of important state court decisions from nearly every one of our 50 States. In that sense, it is designed for a survey course, one that does not purport to cover any one State’s constitution in detail but that considers the kinds of provisions found in many state charters. Like a traditional contracts, real property or torts textbook, the casebook uses the most interesting state court decisions from around the country to illustrate the astonishing array of state constitutional issues at play in American Constitutional Law. It is difficult to overstate the growing significance of state constitutional law. Many of the ground-breaking constitutional debates of the day are being aired in the state courts under their own constitutions―often as a prelude to debates about whether to nationalize this or that right under the National Constitution. To use the most salient example, it is doubtful that there would have been a national right to marriage equality in 2015, see Obergefell v. Hodges, without the establishment of a Massachusetts right to marry in 2003, see Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. In other areas of constitutional litigation―gun rights, capital punishment, property rights, school funding, free exercise claims, to name but a few―state courts often are the key innovators as well, relying on their own constitutions to address individual rights and structural debates of the twenty-first century. The mission of the casebook is to introduce students to this increasingly significant body of American law and to prepare them to practice effectively in it.

State Constitutional Law: The Modern Experience (American Casebook Series)

Holland, Randy J.

McAllister, Stephen R.

Shaman, Jeffrey M.

West Academic Publishing

When we think of constitutional law, we invariably think of the United States Supreme Court and the federal court system. Yet much of our constitutional law is not made at the federal level. In 51 Imperfect Solutions, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton argues that American Constitutional Law should account for the role of the state courts and state constitutions, together with the federal courts and the federal constitution, in protecting individual liberties.The book tells four stories that arise in four different areas of constitutional law: equal protection; criminal procedure; privacy; and free speech and free exercise of religion. Traditional accounts of these bedrock debates about the relationship of the individual to the state focus on decisions of the United States Supreme Court. But these explanations tell just part of the story. The book corrects this omission by looking at each issue-and some others as well-through the lens of many constitutions, not one constitution; of many courts, not one court; and of all American judges, not federal or state judges. Taken together, the stories reveal a remarkably complex, nuanced, ever-changing federalist system.

51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law

Highbridge Co

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