Book Review of Legislative Deferrals: Statutory Ambiguity, Judicial Power, and American Democracy

Are you a legal enthusiast or a legislator who needs to understand the history of policy making and the reason behind the he conflict that has been happening within the United States? Then the book Legislative Deferrals: Statutory Ambiguity, Judicial Power, and American Democracy, should be one of the books you use as a reference and read widely. The book Legislative Deferrals: Statutory Ambiguity, Judicial Power, and American Democracy was written by George I. Lovell. The author is a professor as well as a Chair of Political Science, the Chair in Labor Studies, and the professor in Societies, Justice, and Law at the University of Washington. His major interests are in the political development in the United States, legal processes, theories surrounding the constitution and political institutions. His major study is on the way in which the law shapes various parts of a parts including political affairs, policy making as well as social justice organizations. He has published two books with Legislative Deferrals being his first. He has also recently authored another book titled This is Not Civil Rights which was published in 2012 which looks into the justice Department and rights in the 1940s. His lectures revolve around the constitutional Law in the United States, law on social change, labor studies as well as the Supreme Court in the United States. The book was Published the Cambridge University Press in New York in 2003. It has 290 pages and the paperback hardcopy retails for $65.00.

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The book can be categorized in the textbook genre of nonfiction literature. The author describes the topic of judicial and legislative issues authoritatively using facts that he has sourced from various databases. The book fits the genre perfectly as one can be able to use it as reference for important issues on the topics covered. He book is written in a third part point of view as the author works to ensure that the complete message is passed to the intended audience. I fully agree with this point of view since the targeted audience is the scholars who would like to learn more about the legislative processes in the twentieth century and how they have affected the current policy making. The author uses a formal style of writing as this is more likely to be understood by the intended audience and accepted. This form of writing will also increase the credibility of his work.

The layout of the book is in such a manner that the author puts across well-defined concepts that can be easily followed by the reader. He has used clear and convincing language to improve his credibility and the ideas he passes are fully developed before he pens them down. He has covered various areas of legislative deferrals including the relationship between the judiciary and Congress and how this is likely to affect historians, legal scholars, and even political scientists, effect on the political history on labor laws, in the Clayton Act, Erdman Act, Wagner Act, and the Norris-LaGuardia Act as well as the motivation of lawmakers who helped in their development, and the interaction between the Congress and courts. The thesis that the author is working to pass across is the blame put on the elected officials for handing the task of policy making to the judiciary who are not elected. Lovell provides accurate information throughout the book that ensures less doubt is put on the books(Lovell, 2016). The book also has some footnotes that provide information on the terms in the book that may not be easily understood by the reader. Lovell ensures that the index of the book has accurate data as it is majorly sourced from reliable secondary sources.

In the book, Legislative Deferrals, George I. Lovell worked to analyze the labor laws in accordance with legal history. He also worked to explain how the relationship between the judiciary and Congress and how this is likely to affect historians, legal scholars, and even political scientists. The book provides a huge effect on the political history and the labor laws available within the country. He is also majorly interested in the Clayton Act, Erdman Act, Wagner Act, and the Norris-LaGuardia Act as well as the motivation of lawmakers who helped in their development. As an author, he decides to look into how the courts and Congress interacted. He goes a mile further to display how Congress was able to transfer the responsibility of making policies to judges. However, he explains that the courts failed to hand them the means through which they should deploy the power.

During a summary of the book, Lovell explains that the books target is to explain the reason behind the large amount of power that federal judges who had not been elected into the position have on policy making in the United States. He also gives an explanation on the reasons why, during the Lochner era, the legislative judges were able to overturn any of the victories that legislation had of the labor organizations within the country. He further explains that the questions that most scholars have asked over the years have made an assumption that all answers can be fund within the judiciary and have faith that the constitution will most likely work in their favor and lead to their independence. There is, however, the worry that this power given to judges may pose a threat to legislators as they are likely to go off their baseline positions. Lovell believes that scholars should essentially change their thought process in regards to the judicial policymaking. He believes that the idea of judges as enemies of legislators, they should be used in the application of their power to make policy in the creation of one that will enable transparency and accountability. The author strives to help other scholars understand the labor law as practiced in the twentieth century as well as try to answer any possible question scholars may direct on how judicial power will affect a democracy.

The first chapter of the book is an explanation of the rethinking of the judicial policymaking in a separation of powers system. In the second chapter, Lovell explores the false victories that happened between 1898 and 935 for labor, congress, and the courts. Lovell decided to look into the Erdman Act in the third chapter and how it affected the courts as well as congress as most people deemed it as harmless as an infant (Lovell, 2010). The forth chapter is on the subject of the relationship that exists between the Clayton act, legislative ambiguity, and judicial policymaking and is titled Killing with kindness. The author pens down the fifth chapter to delve into matters concerning the Norris LaGuardia Ac and he uses it to give examples of what each legislator should derive from the past concerning judicial policymaking. In the sixth chapter Lovell makes a point to dissect the Wagner Act and briefly looks into how policies made by judiciary and legislative deferrals will have an effect on a countrys administrative state. The final Chapter is a conclusion of the book where the author gives a summary of the entire book.

One of the major concerns I have on the work Lovell did on this work is the fact that even though he tried to do exhaustive research, he only conducted it using one policy area only diversifying when it came to the case studies. This brings forward my concern on his conclusions as they seem to lack the appropriate generalizability and reach it requires. However, the case studies, he has decided to explore have been explored exhaustively. This can be proven when he says, "By deliberately selecting cases that other scholars have used to establish the importance of independent judicial power, I hope to increase the impact of my finding that judicial power is dependent on the choices made by legislators" (xviii).

In conclusion, Lovell has strived to ensure that the book explores major aspects of legislative deferrals in the twentieth century he feels should be investigated by scholars worldwide. His ideas on the relationship between the judiciary and Congress and how this is likely to affect historians, legal scholars, and even political scientists, effect on the political history on labor laws, in the Clayton Act, Erdman Act, Wagner Act, and the Norris-LaGuardia Act as well as the motivation of lawmakers who helped in their development, and the interaction between the Congress and courts are quite developed within the book and have been well covered.

References

Lovell, G. I. (2016). Legislative Deferrals and Judicial Policy Making in the Administrative State: A Brief Look at the Wagner Act. Legislative Deferrals, 217-251. Retrieved 2016.

Lovell, G. I. (2010). Legislative deferrals statutory ambiguity, judicial power, and American democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.