NCJ Number
143343
Editor(s)
M Minow,
M Ryan,
A Sarat
Date Published
1992
Length
304 pages
Annotation
This book presents some of the writings of the late Robert Cover regarding the role of law in defining values and norms enforced through the threat and use of violence while preserving avenues for change in values and norms; Cover's writings are interpreted and critiqued by the editors.
Abstract
In his discussion of "The Origins of Judicial Activism in the Protection of Minorities," Cover focuses on U.S. Supreme Court decisions that overturned the legally structured racial apartheid in the United States. Cover argues that the crucial importance of Brown v. Board of Education was that it removed any doubt that the U.S. Supreme Court was committed to protecting African Americans by supporting their rights and interests against the white majority. This, reasons Cover, is the appropriate role of the courts, since legislators are reluctant to challenge structures of law perceived as supported by the majority. In another paper, Cover examines the wisdom of jurisdictional redundancy in America's "federalism." He supports this system as a daring plan that permits the tensions and conflicts of the social order to be displayed in the very jurisdictional structure of its courts, thus facilitating ongoing change. In another paper, Cover discusses "Nomos and Narrative," which pertains to humanity's constant creation and maintenance of a world of right and wrong, of lawful and unlawful, and of valid and void. He notes that in this process law reflects a tension between what is and what might be, and law can "be maintained only as long as the two are close enough to reveal a line of human endeavor that brings them into temporary or partial reconciliation." Cover also examines the law's legitimate and illegitimate use of violence to enforce its edicts. Subject index and index of statutes and cases