Public Reason and Courts

Silje A. Langvatn is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Philosophy at The University of Bergen, Norway. She has previously held positions as Postdoctoral Fellow at PluriCourts, University of Oslo, Law & Philosophy Fellow at Yale Law School (2016), and Fulbright Visiting Fellow at Harvard Government Department (2009). Mattias Kumm is Inge Rennert Professor of Law, NYU School of Law and Research Professor for Global Public Law at WZB Social Science Research Center, Berlin. He works on basic issues of constitutional, European and international law as well as the philosophy of law. Beyond his current affiliations Kumm held professorial appointments among others at Harvard, Yale and the EUI. He is a founding Editor of Global Constitutionalism (CUP) and Jus Cogens (Springer). Wojciech Sadurski has previously held a professorship at the European University Institute, Florence, where he served as head of department of law in (2003-6). He taught at New York University School of Law, Yale Law School, Fordham Law School in New York and was Chair of the Academic Advisory Board of the Community of Democracies. He has written extensively on the philosophy of law, political philosophy, and comparative constitutional law.

• Preface Silje A. Langvatn, Wojciech Sadurski and Mattias Kumm; 1. Taking Public Reason to Court: Understanding References to Public Reason in Discussions about Courts and Adjudication Silje Aambø Langvatn; Part I. Public Reason in Constitutional Courts: 2. Must Laws Be Motivated by Public Reason? Micah Schwartzman; 3. The Importance of Constitutional Public Reason Ronald C. Den Otter; 4. The Question of Constitutional Fidelity: Rawls on the Reason of Constitutional Courts Frank I. Michelman; 5. The Challenges of Islamic Law Adjudication in Public Reason Mohammad H. Fadel; 6. “We Hold these Truths to be Self-Evident”: Constitutionalism, Public Reason and Legitimate Authority Mattias Kumm; 7. A Kantian System of Constitutional Justice: Rights, Trusteeship and Balancing Alec Stone Sweet and Eric Palmer; 8. Laws, Norms, and Public Justification: The Limits of Law as an Instrument of Reform Jacob Barrett and Gerald F. Gaus; Part II. Public Reason in International Courts and Tribunals: 9. European Court of Human Rights in Pursuit of Public Reason? A Study of Lost Opportunities Wojciech Sadurski; 10. The Right to Justification in the Context of Proportionality: A Plea for Determinacy and Stability Alain Zysset; 11. “Going Public:” Reasoning and Justification at the “World Trade Court” Sivan Agon Shlomo; Part III. Critical Perspective on Public Reason in Courts: 12. Constitutional Interpretation and Public Reason: Seductive Disanalogies Christopher F. Zurn.