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Epistemologieal Skepticism, Hobbesian Natural Right and Judicial Self-Restraint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Sotirios A. Barber
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Abstract

Ronald Dworkin has shown that the doctrine of judicial self-restraint, although packaged as a defense of constitutional tradition, is grounded in a legalmoral skepticism that either inadvertently or covertly rejects the possibility of a genuinely normative constitution. The influence of Dworkin's argument challenges exponents of judicial self-restraint to show that their position is consistent with constitutionalist assumptions. This paper considers two attempts to meet that challenge. One defends restraint on epistemologieal grounds; the other on a substantive theory of natural rights. Together, these attempts constitute a comprehensive and systematic attempt to justify restraint within constitutionalist assumptions. Their failure indicates that the doctrine of restraint can form no part of a normative theory of the Constitution.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , Summer 1986 , pp. 374 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1986

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References

Notes

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86 Ibid., pp. 52, 64.

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