Louis Michael Seidman
Encyclopedia
Louis Michael Seidman is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC, a widely read constitutional law
scholar and major proponent of the critical legal studies
movement.
from University of Chicago
and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1971. After graduation, Seidman clerked for D.C. Circuit Judge Skelly Wright and later clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall
. Following his clerkship, Seidman joined the public defender
service of the District of Columbia.
indeterminacy thesis
, Seidman argues that because constitutional law cannot settle fundamental political disputes - constitutional legal discourse and judicial review instead act to "unsettle" them. Rather than resolving conflicts definitively, the temporary resolution of any controversy in constitutional law through judicial review
leaves open the possibility that the losing side may make an equally plausible alternative constitutional argument. In this way, both the prevailing and losing sides in a dispute recognize their positions as unstable and subject to revision within the recognized standards of legal argument. As a result, both winners and losers have reasons to continue their debate within the framework of constitutional law, thereby keeping all parties at the table and consolidating the legal system.
Seidman's defense of judicial review provided a counterpoint within the critical legal studies school to his colleague and sometime collaborator Mark Tushnet
's attack on judicial review as undemocratic.
In addition to Seidman's theory of judicial review, he is also known for his widely respected constitutional law casebook, co-authored with Pamela Karlan, Mark Tushnet, Geoffrey Stone and Cass Sunstein
. Seidman is also noted for his work in criminal law and his book Silence and Freedom. During the Sonia Sotomayor
confirmation hearings, Seidman also attracted attention as an outspoken liberal detractor, writing a scathing response to Sotomayor's claims that she simply applies the law to the facts (arguing that this is impossible to do).
Seidman has also recently intervened in the health care reform debate, defending the constitutionality of the single payer mandate against libertarian criticism on fora tv.
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
scholar and major proponent of the critical legal studies
Critical legal studies
Critical legal studies is a movement in legal thought that applied methods similar to those of critical theory to law. The abbreviations "CLS" and "Crit" are sometimes used to refer to the movement and its adherents....
movement.
Education and early career
Seidman received an A.B.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1971. After graduation, Seidman clerked for D.C. Circuit Judge Skelly Wright and later clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
. Following his clerkship, Seidman joined the public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
service of the District of Columbia.
Academic work and influence
Seidman is well known for his contributions to constitutional legal theory, principally his theory of unsettlement put forward in his book Our Unsettled Constitution: A New Defense of Constitutionalism and Judicial Review (Yale 2001). Drawing from the critical legal studiesCritical legal studies
Critical legal studies is a movement in legal thought that applied methods similar to those of critical theory to law. The abbreviations "CLS" and "Crit" are sometimes used to refer to the movement and its adherents....
indeterminacy thesis
Indeterminacy debate in legal theory
The indeterminacy debate in legal theory can be summed up as follows: Can the law constrain the results reached by adjudicators in legal disputes? Some members of the critical legal studies movement — primarily legal academics in the United States — argued that the answer to this question is "no."...
, Seidman argues that because constitutional law cannot settle fundamental political disputes - constitutional legal discourse and judicial review instead act to "unsettle" them. Rather than resolving conflicts definitively, the temporary resolution of any controversy in constitutional law through judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
leaves open the possibility that the losing side may make an equally plausible alternative constitutional argument. In this way, both the prevailing and losing sides in a dispute recognize their positions as unstable and subject to revision within the recognized standards of legal argument. As a result, both winners and losers have reasons to continue their debate within the framework of constitutional law, thereby keeping all parties at the table and consolidating the legal system.
Seidman's defense of judicial review provided a counterpoint within the critical legal studies school to his colleague and sometime collaborator Mark Tushnet
Mark Tushnet
Mark Victor Tushnet is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. A prominent scholar of constitutional law and legal history, he is the author of many books and articles.-Career:...
's attack on judicial review as undemocratic.
In addition to Seidman's theory of judicial review, he is also known for his widely respected constitutional law casebook, co-authored with Pamela Karlan, Mark Tushnet, Geoffrey Stone and Cass Sunstein
Cass Sunstein
Cass R. Sunstein is an American legal scholar, particularly in the fields of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and law and behavioral economics, who currently is the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration...
. Seidman is also noted for his work in criminal law and his book Silence and Freedom. During the Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. Sotomayor is the Court's 111th justice, its first Hispanic justice, and its third female justice....
confirmation hearings, Seidman also attracted attention as an outspoken liberal detractor, writing a scathing response to Sotomayor's claims that she simply applies the law to the facts (arguing that this is impossible to do).
Seidman has also recently intervened in the health care reform debate, defending the constitutionality of the single payer mandate against libertarian criticism on fora tv.
Selected Bibliography
- Louis Michael Seidman, Our Unsettled Ninth Amendment: An Essay on Unenumerated Rights and the Impossibility of Textualism, Cal. L. Rev. (forthcoming)
- Louis Michael Seidman, Mark V. Tushnet, Geoffrey R. Stone, Cass R. Sunstein & Pamela S. Karlan, Constitutional Law (New York: Aspen Publishers 6th ed. 2009).
- Louis Michael Seidman, Silence and Freedom (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press 2007).
- Louis Michael Seidman, Constitutional Law: Equal Protection of the Laws (New York: Foundation Press 2003).
- Louis Michael Seidman, Our Unsettled Constitution: A New Defense of Constitutionalism and Judicial Review (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press 2001).
- Louis Michael Seidman, Can Constitutionalism be Leftist?, 26 Quinnipiac L. Rev. 557-577 (2008).
- Louis Michael Seidman, Gay Sex and Marriage, the Reciprocal Disadvantage Problem, and the Crisis in Liberal Constitutional Theory, 31 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 135-150 (2008).
- Louis Michael Seidman, Critical Constitutionalism Now, 75 Fordham L. Rev. 575-592 (2006)
- Louis Michael Seidman, Left Out, 67 Law & Contemp. Probs. 23-32 (2004).
- Louis Michael Seidman, The Secret Life of the Political Question Doctrine, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. 441-480 (2004).
- Louis Michael Seidman & Mark V. Tushnet, When Judges Tell Us What They Mean, 5 Graven Images 254-258 (2002).
- Louis Michael Seidman, What's So Bad About Bush v. Gore? An Essay on Our Unsettled Election, 47 Wayne L. Rev. 953-1026 (2001).
- Louis Michael Seidman, "What are You Doing Here?" An Autobiographical Fragment, in Law Touched Our Hearts: A Generation Remembers Brown v. Board of Education 166-168 (Mildred Wigfall Robinson & Richard J. Bonnie eds., Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press 2008).
- Louis Michael Seidman, Comment: Marbury and the Authoritarian Straddle, in Arguing Marbury v. Madison 160-165 (Mark V. Tushnet ed., Stanford, Cal.: Stanford Law and Politics 2005).
- Louis Michael Seidman, Judicial Activism and Judicial Restraint, Entry, in 3 Encyclopedia of the American Constitution 1449-1450 (Leonard W. Levy, Kenneth L. Karst & Dennis J. Mahoney eds., New York: MacMillan Reference USA 2d ed. 2000).