(Download) "Why We Cannot Ask Why: Ethical Independence and Voter Intent." by Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Why We Cannot Ask Why: Ethical Independence and Voter Intent.
- Author : Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
- Release Date : January 22, 2011
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 277 KB
Description
Should a vote still count if cast for the wrong reason? More specifically, when citizens decide a legislative question themselves, whether through initiative, referendum, or plebiscite, should judges require their votes to be backed by a certain level of responsibility, of "equal concern and respect"? (1) This is not to ask whether laws passed by popular vote require some level of rationality or decency. That is too easy; obviously, they must. (2) Rather, the question is whether the law should require each individual voter, in the cloister of the voting booth, to cast her vote rationally and responsibly. This Note argues no. Courts and commentators have struggled to determine when laws, whether enacted directly by citizens or through regular legislation, are invalid because of their intentions? This analysis, however, has ignored a key distinction between voter motivation and legislative design. Voter motivation is the particular reason a citizen (or legislator) chooses to vote for or against a particular measure. Legislative design, on the other hand, is what the measure, as divined by tools of statutory construction, is calculated to do. Inquiry into legislative design is necessary for proper adjudication. Inquiry into voter motivation, however, should be forbidden because it intrudes upon voters' "ethical independence," (4) as Professor Ronald Dworkin terms it.
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