Misreading law, misreading democracy /Victoria Nourse.

Includes bibliographies and index.

"Hating Congress but loving Democracy is a national passion. For those who apply law, whether lawyers or judges, it is an oxymoronic luxury neither can afford. One of the dirty secrets of the legal academy is that it teaches almost nothing to lawyers about how law is made in Congress. The results of this ignorance can be perverse and anti-democratic. No lawyer would confuse a dissenting judicial opinion with a majority opinion, but somehow lawyers and judges in famous cases have unwittingly confused the meanings of legislative losers and winners. For those lawyers and judges who have declared that reverting to Congress's records is shameful and unconstitutional, this book provides a powerful antidote. Lawyers may hate Congress but Congress by another name is democracy, and without understanding how it works, lawyers will unwittingly find themselves participating in an interpretive endeavor that celebrates those who have lost over those who have won the legislative debate"--

Prologue : the paradox of American civic illiteracy -- Congress is not a court -- Statutory interpretation theories misunderstand Congress -- A legislative decision theory of statutory interpretation -- Petty textualism, canons, and cognitive bias -- What is legislative intent? : evidence of context -- The constitutional argument for legislative evidence -- Epilogue : courts and Congress as faithful agents of democracy.

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