He knows the rattles, the leaky spots, and he has watched its interpretation change for better a.More like 3.5. The temerity of it! Please note that this book is not written exclusively for experts, but it is also not an easy read.Another book to read with an OPEN MIND. Personal politics, being inextricable from any such argument, are generally thoroughly restrained, with the benefits to the political process at large being the primary focus. Supreme Court justices are among the most impressive rhetoricians of our age. Please try again.You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.Something went wrong. Normally I avoid political books like the plague because as a lifelong independent I am never satisfied. The book has valuable insights for all sides. From the death penalty, gun control and campaign finance to gerrymandering, sovereign immunity and the "anti-commandeering rule" Stevens' suggestions are each accompanied by a brief judicial history and personal stories. Now that he is off the Court, Stevens explains why six decisions in which he dissented should be overruled by constitutional amendment. A pretty dry read (more like a textbook) but it contains enough personal touch from JPS to keep it moving. In his new book, Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution, John Paul Stevens argues for amending the Constitution to promote democracy and rights. This is not to say that I am aware of any country with a nice, clean, easy to understand set up that is free of all corruption and where there are zero power mongering people involved. The six changes Justice Stevens would make are (1) enable the federal government to require state officers to enforce federal law (currently, although the constitution says that federal law is "the supreme law of the land" over state law, the supreme court has interpreted this to mean only that state judges have to follow federal law, but not that other state officers are required to enforce federal law), (2) give political gerrymandering the same scrutiny unde.Concise, cogent, and to the point. It seems like he only wrote this book because... well because he recently retired and wanted to sell some books before people forgot who he was. The proposed amendments all probably have a low chance of passing -- eliminating the death penalty and even thinking about changing a single letter of the second amendment would send the Right into an unparalleled panic. This book was an interesting position piece that quickly laid out the reasons for the proposals and placed the focus on where the changes should be made, in the.A short and easy to read set of proposed Constitutional amendments by former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. On campaign spending, even if Congress were empowered to act, would these elected officials restrict their ability to secure their own incumbencies? Into the light - what is possible and reasonable. Six Amendments is an absolutely unprecedented call to arms, detailing six specific ways in which the Constitution should be amended in order to protect our democracy and the safety and wellbeing of American citizens. Little, Brown and Company, 9780316373722, 192pp. And, frankly, neither was that good. He was a great justice and he is very eloquent and articulate, but the book was not as well thought out as I would have liked-- in other words the book seems rushed.Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2020.The changes recommended in this book to our Constitution would go a long way towards making society more equitable for everyone. Three of these amendments are… In which I contradict a Supreme Court Justice (ret), without having been able to read his complete argument. LSAT prep to re...High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump.Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners ar...The Myth of the American Dream: Reflections on Affluence, Autonomy, Safety, and Power,Contract to Unite America: Ten Reforms to Reclaim Our Republic,Segregation by Design: Local Politics and Inequality in American Cities,Law Clerk Handbook: A Handbook for Law Clerks to Federal Judges, Revised Third Edition.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Some involve qualifying changes to existing amendments (like his proposed addition to the Second Amendment), while others (like the one invol.Gotta hand it to former Justice Stevens: Just when you think you're gonna get a straight political polemic on the ills of the country, you instead get a quiet, calm, legally-reasoned set of arguments for a handful of constitutional amendments. These Books Explain Why You Feel That Way. Each proposed change gets its own mini legal history, with special focus on how the Supreme Court has adjudicated. Five Chiefs was like reading a set of 1L law school case briefs (and not the insider take of someone more inside than Jeffrey Toobin, who writes nice/pop SCOTUS insider books). But an a thoughtful read, nonetheless.A fun and quick read for me. The logic is succinct and direct and it will satisfy believers. But every once in a while I find myself reading Supreme Court rulings and feeling a tinge of jealousy at the ability of these justices to articulate legal perspectives with such clear and compelling prose. What outspoken revolutionary upstart would propose reversing a host of recent Supreme Court decisions in five areas and in a sixth, impatiently shoo the Court along the trend of its judgments?Why, it’s retired Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, a moderate Republican when President Gerald Ford nominated him for the high court in 1978.