Against Obligation—The Multiple Sources of Authority in a Liberal Democracy

Greene (law, Fordham U.) tackles two key questions in this work: whether citizens have a moral obligation to obey the law, regardless of its content, the circumstances of its application, or whether it contradicts other norms or values, and whether government officials must always adhere to others' interpretations of constitutional law. These two questions are related, he argues, and his answer to both is that citizens and constitutional interpreters should take values of fidelity into account without being bound by them. Rejecting any general notion of obligation, he proposes an alternative approach of "permeable sovereignty," in which all sources of norms (e.g. religion, cultural mores, etc.) enjoy equal footing and the state is required to accommodate these alternative norms where it can. Similarly for the question of constitutional interpretation, he defends a view of multiple or plural interpretive authority. He argues that both these positions are more true to the US tradition of multiple repositories of power, distrust of concentrated power, and the search for checks and balances. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Abner S. Greene is Leonard F. Manning Professor of Law, at Fordham University.