Sunstein - The second bill of rights: FDRs unfinished revolution and why we need it more than ever

In The Second Bill of Rights, Cass Sunstein, a University of Chicago law professor who is one of todays academic stars... makes a good case for giving greater heed to the special status of certain human needs in constitutional law.... Sunstein provides a credible argument for some doctrinal modifications. Accomplishing this is no mean achievement.

Washington Monthly

[The Second Bill of Rights] is focused and clear in showing how FDR sowed the seeds of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and energetic in discussing this proposals further possible legacy.

Publishers Weekly

Raises many good points worth arguing over as reformists seek to reshape American liberalismand recapture its former power.

Kirkus Reviews

It is often said that America is allergic to social and economic rights. Cass Sunstein shows that this is wrong, in a masterful evocation of Franklin Roosevelts vision of a more just and equal America built upon social and economic rights guarantees for all. The relevance of this vision to the politics of today is only too obvious. Read Sunstein and be inspired.

Michael Ignatieff, Carr Professor of Human Rights,
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Thanks to Cass Sunstein, Franklin D. Roosevelt has been recaptured as constitutional visionary and theorist. For those who see the Constitution only in terms of negative rights and limitations on the government, FDR provides a bracing challenge that is as urgent now as it was when issued a half-century ago.

Dennis J. Hutchinson, University of Chicago
Law School, Editor, Supreme Court Review

Whatever the ideology du jour, Cass Sunstein has always stood for a vigorous liberalism that strengthens America by strengthening Americans. The Second Bill of Rights is a most welcome addition to his efforts.

Alan Wolfe

The Second Bill of Rights is a major contribution to the dialogue between past and present that will define Americas future.

Bruce Ackerman, Yale Law School

Until the 1980s, American conservatives and liberals, despite their profound differences, shared certain principles about how Americas greatness could best be sustained and expanded. Now that old and well-tested agreement has broken down, with calamitous results and even worse portents for the entire county. Going back to the legacy of F.D.R., Cass Sunstein, with his usual brilliance and grace, retrieves what has been broken and forgotten, and offers a new path to the future an American future based on hope not fear, on common sense and not partisan platitudes.

Sean Wilentz, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History
and Director of the Program in American
Studies Princeton University

EVERY AMERICAN IS ENTITLED TO:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.