Friday, January 13, 2017

CONFIDENT PLURALISM AND FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

John D. Inazu, Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving through Deep Difference (Chicago & London: U. of Chicago Press, 2016) (Confident pluralism argues that we can, and we must, learn to live with each other in spite of our deep differences. It requires a tolerance for dissent, a skepticism of government orthodoxy, and a willingness to endure strange and even offensive ways of life. Confident pluralism asks that those charged with enforcing our laws do better in preserving and strengthening our constitutional commitments to voluntary groups, public forums, and certain kinds of generally available funding. It also challenges each of us to live out the aspirations of tolerance, humility, and patience in our civic practices." "Confident pluralism does not give us the American Dream. But it might help us avoid the American Nightmare." Id. at 125.).

John D. Inazu, Liberty's Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (New Haven & London: Yale U. Press, 2012) ("In light of the constraints described above and the social and constitutional history of the right to assembly, I propose the following definition: The right of assembly is a presumptive right of individuals to form and participate in peaceable, noncommercial groups. The right is rebuttable when there is a compelling reason for thinking that the justifications for protecting assembly do not apply (as when the group prospers under monopolistic or near-monopolistic conditions)." Id. at 14 (italics in original).).