Harvard Law School Professor Mark Tushnet is the co-editor of a new book, “Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law” (Routledge 2012), with Thomas Fleiner and Cheryl Saunders. Split into four parts, the book takes a comparative approach to the subject while also identifying new avenues for research.
In April, Tushnet, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law and a specialist in constitutional law and theory, was interviewed by his colleague and former collaborator HLS Professor Vicki Jackson. Tushnet and Jackson co-wrote “Defining the Field of Comparative Constitutional Law.” Jackson, an expert in constitutional law, federalism and comparative law, recently argued before the Supreme Court regarding same-sex marriage, taking the position that Court lacked jurisdiction on the case.
At the event, the professors touched on how constitutional law is practiced throughout the world, the legitimacy of governments and law over time, why common civil law matters and how it is linked to the legal education system, and the process by which the book was formed.
Tushnet’s research includes studies examining the practice of judicial review in the United States and around the world. He also writes in the area of legal and constitutional history, and is the author of many works including “Why the Constitution Matters” (Yale University Press, 2010) and “Weak Courts, Strong Rights: Judicial Review and Social Welfare Rights in Comparative Constitutional Law” (Princeton University Press, 2008).