Democracy by Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government

Sandler and Schoenbrod tell how the courts, with the best intentions and often with the approval of elected officials, came to control ordinary policy making through decrees. These court regimes, they assert, impose rigid and often ancient detailed plans that prove ineffective and wasteful. Elected officials cannot respond to changing realities unless attorneys, court-appointed functionaries, and lower-echelon officials agree. The result is neither judicial government nor good government, say Sandler and Schoenbrod, and they offer practical reforms that would set governments free from this stranglehold and allow courts to do their legitimate job of protecting rights.