Constitutional Deliberation in Congress: The Impact of Judicial Review in a Separated System

Analyzes the impact of the Supreme Court’s constitutional decisions and its judicial review of statutes on lawmaking in Congress In Constitutional Deliberation in Congress J. Mitchell Pickerill analyses the impact of the Supreme Court’s constitutional decisions on Congressional debates and statutory language. Based on a thorough examination of how Congress responds to key Court rulings and strategises in anticipation of them, Pickerill argues that judicial review - or the possibility of it - encourages Congressional attention to constitutional issues. Revealing critical aspects of how laws are made, revised, and refined within the separated system of government of the United States, he makes an important contribution to constitutionalism outside the courts debates. Pickerill examines particular cases and compares congressional debate over constitutional issues in key pieces of legislation that preceded and followed it: the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1997. He shows that Congressional attention to federalism increased in the 1990s along with the Court’s greater scrutiny.