Making Our Democracy Work 在线下载 pdf mobi 2025 epub 电子版

The Supreme Court is one of the most extraordinary institutions in our system of government. Charged with the responsibility of interpreting the Constitution, the nine unelected justices of the Court have the awesome power to strike down laws enacted by our elected representatives. Why does the public accept the Court’s decisions as legitimate and follow them, even when those decisions are highly unpopular? What must the Court do to maintain the public’s faith? How can the Court help make our democracy work? These are the questions that Justice Stephen Breyer tackles in this groundbreaking book.

Today we assume that when the Court rules, the public will obey. But Breyer declares that we cannot take the public’s confidence in the Court for granted. He reminds us that at various moments in our history, the Court’s decisions were disobeyed or ignored. And through investigations of past cases, concerning the Cherokee Indians, slavery, and Brown v. Board of Education, he brilliantly captures the steps—and the missteps—the Court took on the road to establishing its legitimacy as the guardian of the Constitution.

Justice Breyer discusses what the Court must do going forward to maintain that public confidence and argues for interpreting the Constitution in a way that works in practice. He forcefully rejects competing approaches that look exclusively to the Constitution’s text or to the eighteenth-century views of the framers. Instead, he advocates a pragmatic approach that applies unchanging constitutional values to ever-changing circumstances—an approach that will best demonstrate to the public that the Constitution continues to serve us well. The Court, he believes, must also respect the roles that other actors—such as the president, Congress, administrative agencies, and the states—play in our democracy, and he emphasizes the Court’s obligation to build cooperative relationships with them.

Finally, Justice Breyer examines the Court’s recent decisions concerning the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, contrasting these decisions with rulings concerning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. He uses these cases to show how the Court can promote workable government by respecting the roles of other constitutional actors without compromising constitutional principles.

Making Our Democracy Work is a tour de force of history and philosophy, offering an original approach to interpreting the Constitution that judges, lawyers, and scholars will look to for many years to come. And it further establishes Justice Breyer as one of the Court’s greatest intellectuals and a leading legal voice of our time.

part i / The People’s Trust

One Judicial Review: The Democratic Anomaly 3

Two Establishing Judicial Review: Marbury v. Madison 12

Three The Cherokees 22

Four Dred Scott 32

Five Little Rock 49

Six A Present-Example 68

ii / Decisions That Work 73

Seven Basic Approach 75

Eight Congress, Statutes, and Purposes 88

Nine The Executive Branch,Administrative Action,and Comparative Expertise 106

Ten The States and Federalism: Decentralization and Subsidiarity 121

Eleven Other Federal Courts: Specialization 137

Twelve Past Court Decisions: Stability 149

part iii / Protecting Individuals 157

Thirteen Individual Liberty: Permanent Values and Proportionality 159

Fourteen The President, National Security, and Accountability:

Korematsu 172

Fifteen Presidential Power: Guantánamo and Accountability 194

Conclusion Appendix A Images 221

Appendix B Background: The Court 228

Acknowledgments 233

Notes 235

Index 255

Contents

Stephen Gerald Breyer (pronounced /ˈbraɪər/; born August 15, 1938) is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1994, and known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, Breyer is generally associated with the more liberal side of the Court.[1]

Following a clerkship with Supreme Court Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg in 1964, Breyer became well-known as a law professor and lecturer at Harvard Law School starting in 1967. There he specialized in the area of administrative law, writing a number of influential text books that remain in use today. He held other prominent positions before being nominated for the Supreme Court, including special assistant to the United States Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, and assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force in 1973.

In his 2005 book Active Liberty, Breyer made his first attempt to systematically lay out his views on legal theory, arguing that the judiciary should seek to resolve issues to encourage popular participation in governmental decisions.

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要充分重视判决的说理。法官撰写判决时，即使是在各方瞩目、民意沸腾的政治性案件中，判决的说理——不仅仅是裁判结果——也常常会起到扭转乾坤的作用。一份坚实有力的判决，除了要立场坚定、说理充分、透彻清晰、论据翔实，还应具有说服力，能给读者留下深刻、持久的印象，（哪怕是一份异议意见）最终可以推动实现预期的法律效果。

当人们政治热情高涨时，很少有人会理性地接受一个专业性选择。当民意沸腾时，一个缺乏“钱袋子”和“抢杠子”的专业部门，也很难抚平众人情绪。

约翰·亚当斯任总统期间，为对付共和党人和“不听话”的新闻界，曾推动国会出台《防治煽动法》（The Sedition Law），规定“撰写、印刷、发表或出版……任何针对联邦政府、国会……或者总统的不实、诽谤、和污蔑之词，意图损害政府、国会、总统声誉，煽动良民仇视、对抗政府者"，最高将判处两年徒刑，并处两千美元罚金。受该法影响，许多报社编辑和异议人士社捕入狱。包括最高法院大法官蔡斯、帕特森在内的许多法官在巡回听审时，参与了这类案件的审理，并作出了有罪判决。1800 年大街期间，因为这部法律激起众怒，导致亚当斯败于杰弗逊之手，并使联邦党人失去了对国会的控制权。杰弗逊上任后，赦免了所有因《防治煽动法》入狱的人。

首席政府律师告诉最高法院，如果连你们都“屈服于权力和暴力”，就意味着“放弃了法律和秩序”。“他说：“如果人们连最高法院都不重视，这个国家将荡然无存，最高法院在法律事务上说的每一句话，都相当于法律。”

司法独立是一个国家的基本理念。但是，当苏共一名党委书记打电话给法官，告诉他某个案子该如何判时，司法独立将荡然无存

但我建议法官在下判前，应洞悉决策在现实世界中可能导致的后果，并充分予以考虑

书籍介绍

The Supreme Court is one of the most extraordinary institutions in our system of government. Charged with the responsibility of interpreting the Constitution, the nine unelected justices of the Court have the awesome power to strike down laws enacted by our elected representatives. Why does the public accept the Court’s decisions as legitimate and follow them, even when those decisions are highly unpopular? What must the Court do to maintain the public’s faith? How can the Court help make our democracy work? These are the questions that Justice Stephen Breyer tackles in this groundbreaking book.

Today we assume that when the Court rules, the public will obey. But Breyer declares that we cannot take the public’s confidence in the Court for granted. He reminds us that at various moments in our history, the Court’s decisions were disobeyed or ignored. And through investigations of past cases, concerning the Cherokee Indians, slavery, and Brown v. Board of Education, he brilliantly captures the steps—and the missteps—the Court took on the road to establishing its legitimacy as the guardian of the Constitution.

Justice Breyer discusses what the Court must do going forward to maintain that public confidence and argues for interpreting the Constitution in a way that works in practice. He forcefully rejects competing approaches that look exclusively to the Constitution’s text or to the eighteenth-century views of the framers. Instead, he advocates a pragmatic approach that applies unchanging constitutional values to ever-changing circumstances—an approach that will best demonstrate to the public that the Constitution continues to serve us well. The Court, he believes, must also respect the roles that other actors—such as the president, Congress, administrative agencies, and the states—play in our democracy, and he emphasizes the Court’s obligation to build cooperative relationships with them.

Finally, Justice Breyer examines the Court’s recent decisions concerning the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, contrasting these decisions with rulings concerning the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. He uses these cases to show how the Court can promote workable government by respecting the roles of other constitutional actors without compromising constitutional principles.

Making Our Democracy Work is a tour de force of history and philosophy, offering an original approach to interpreting the Constitution that judges, lawyers, and scholars will look to for many years to come. And it further establishes Justice Breyer as one of the Court’s greatest intellectuals and a leading legal voice of our time.

• 作者：BEI 发布时间：2015-09-17 08:42:38

  宪法书看多了一个样……

• 作者：子尧 发布时间：2012-10-01 03:51:49

  明晚要在Rossabi的课上present一个有关联邦高法的opinion paper。先拿布雷耶挡一下～～

• 作者：盒饭 发布时间：2010-10-19 01:13:28

  布雷耶大法官关于司法与民主关系的最新力作

• 作者：彼粒星 发布时间：2022-08-26 20:06:58

  在这个时间点来看Roe v Wade的overturn对Court一朝一夕慢慢建立起来的public acceptance真的是起到了神速瓦解作用啊…。

• 作者：鲁闽 发布时间：2012-03-24 12:28:45

  尽管美国宪法制定者们起了个好头，对法院寄予厚望，但马伯里诉麦迪逊过了五十年才有第二个审查案例而不至于使其成为绝响。事实上，从认为法院没用、自己不喜欢的判决大可不遵守到建立对司法的信仰，美国经历了长期的历史过程。这个历史过程表明，司法独立，不是司法独大，更不是期待司法成为救世主，而是期待以平衡的艺术达至更好的社会。为达至平衡，法官采用了实用主义的解释路径。然而，关于司法信仰的国民教育，美国依然任重而道远，毕竟调查显示，在这个三权分立的国家，只有1/3的美国人能够说出司法、行政、司法这三个分支的名字，还有3/4的美国人干脆根本不知道法官和立法者之间到底有什么区别。

• 作者：霉狮♛ 发布时间：2021-08-11 12:54:18

  譬如“自拍新招”答曰“自拍杆/蓝牙遥控/搞怪表情/特殊发饰”

  连这种都要看书了解，脑子真被狗吃了

• 般掉

  作者：Tokyo·Demort 发布时间：2008-08-14 22:04:48

  刘叔雅我满熟，满佩服，以致没什么可说的。

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  最开始读，感觉很不顺。感觉作者的遣词造句，和刘叔雅的风格不协调。经常是一股市井泛滥的现代气味就泛上来了，稍逊了一点古雅的气质、严谨的精神。偏偏还要依照论文、史书的例子，在每章后面都标注引用出处——这其实是优点，就是和作者的语言不搭调。

  看到中间感觉就好多了，大概是沉浸在历史中刘叔雅的狂傲风骨之中，而不大在乎这个了罢。

  38元钱感觉还是有点贵，权当给枉死的刘叔雅烧纸钱了。

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

  Page 364，要知道，自古以来，本就是君子和小人、正气和邪气，一消一长的，全是君子、绝无小恩，只有正气、毫无邪气的世界，是不会有的。——〉要知道，自古以来，本就是君子和小人、正气和邪气，一消一长的，全是君子、绝无小人，只有正气、毫无邪气的世界，是不会有的。

• 相信着，向前走

  作者：阿香 发布时间：2009-03-27 17:08:00

  其实看过很多几米的书，但是如果你只叫我推荐一本，一定是这本《向左走，向右走》。

  理由是，没有一本比这更温暖更像真实的人生的了。

  也或许，读它的时候，我正处在一个温暖的人生阶段，让这个推荐带有了更多的主观色彩。

  读《地下铁》的时候，正经历灰冷的初恋，我当好东西一样送的书被不爱惜的人弄破了书皮——同时也弄破了我的心。

  读《月亮忘记了》的时候，还一直伤心着，虽然寓言温暖，蓝色的夜空和月亮的色彩都显得太忧郁。

  读《我只能为你画一张小卡片》和《我的心每天开出一朵花》的时候，看穿了几米的彷徨与犹豫。虽然他爱生活，但也逃脱不了怀疑。

  读《小蝴蝶与小披风》……唉，这本书，适合有小朋友的同学读……

  《蓝石头》，飞跃大洋前的信物，虽然什么也没说，但他该知道我会像蓝石头一样守约，粉身碎骨也会飞回来，可是……

  只有《向左走，向右走》，彼时我不曾爱上谁，谁也没有爱上我（我没爱上的人统统不算爱上过我），以一双不曾明白过世事的眼睛看这个故事，温暖又透明。

  不是说不喜欢上面的书哈，只是唯有这本书，它是给我最多信念的，在人生的不同时候。它常看常新。

  在你“不懂”的时候，它是一个爱情故事，给你憧憬。

  在你“刚刚遇到心里砰砰直跳”的时候，它是一个动力，告诉你要幸福要努力争取。

  在你“甜蜜”的时候，它是一个警示——相遇的人要珍惜，要携手一路走下去。（那时还买了一对钥匙链，只可惜没有了）

  在你“失去”的时候，它是一份安慰剂，你看男主人公女主人公互相失去的郁闷不比你差吧？

  在你“痛苦”的时候，它是一种鼓励，请你看看最后的结局。

  在你“释怀”的时候，它为你高兴。阳光就像书里的一样灿烂。

  它像一个忠实的充满信念的朋友，永远都告诉你，人生，要积极，积极！

  不怕你笑话的，分手一年半后的某一天，睡觉前看到这本书倒数第二页，我冲动的看了看身后的墙，大胆的想法跳进来：要不要砸过去？

  呵呵，随即我笑了，我知道我还想砸墙，还想着另一个小房间里或许有我从未说过话但说起话来却“仿佛失散多年的恋人”一样的人——我有这样的想法，说明我还有救。

  我们都期待不必等待，不必像故事里的人物一样，走过长长一大圈才再次遇见。可是不走这一圈，我们怎么会懂得珍惜？

  你走了一大圈，见过早起的猫，晚睡的狗，挑食的小鸟，自怨自艾的紫罗兰，你想念着我……你见过砍柴的老爷爷，梳头的小女孩，见过高女人和他的矮丈夫，见过麦琪的礼物，你想念着我……你听过最安静的海，经历过最大的暴风雨，见证过新生命的诞生，也悲伤过生活无情的把一些生命吞没，你想念着我……你见过北欧圣诞的雪，爱斯基摩人，干燥沙漠里的花朵，严寒酷暑里为了梦想努力的工作，你仍然想念着我……

  请别心急你怎么还没遇见我，请你一直保持：相信。相信！

  请相信你一定会遇见我，就像故事的结局！这是我们的信念！

  你走过的旅途，不过是为了让一个更成熟的你，遇到一个更成熟的我。

  ……

  放心吧，在我们相遇那一天，我们要约好把一面墙打穿——用最快乐的方式！

  以庆祝我们的成长，庆祝我们穿越了自己，来到脚下这片美丽的生活。