Background
Amsterdam, Anthony Guy was born on September 12, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Gustave G. and Valla (Abel) Amsterdam.
( In this remarkable collaboration, one of the nation's l...)
In this remarkable collaboration, one of the nation's leading civil rights lawyers joins forces with one of the world's foremost cultural psychologists to put American constitutional law into an American cultural context. By close readings of key Supreme Court opinions, they show how storytelling tactics and deeply rooted mythic structures shape the Court's decisions about race, family law, and the death penalty. Minding the Law explores crucial psychological processes involved in the work of lawyers and judges: deciding whether particular cases fit within a legal rule ("categorizing"), telling stories to justify one's claims or undercut those of an adversary ("narrative"), and tailoring one's language to be persuasive without appearing partisan ("rhetorics"). Because these processes are not unique to the law, courts' decisions cannot rest solely upon legal logic but must also depend vitally upon the underlying culture's storehouse of familiar tales of heroes and villains. But a culture's stock of stories is not changeless. Amsterdam and Bruner argue that culture itself is a dialectic constantly in progress, a conflict between the established canon and newly imagined "possible worlds." They illustrate the swings of this dialectic by a masterly analysis of the Supreme Court's race-discrimination decisions during the past century. A passionate plea for heightened consciousness about the way law is practiced and made, Minding the Law will be welcomed by a new generation concerned with renewing law's commitment to a humane justice.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674008162/?tag=2022091-20
Amsterdam, Anthony Guy was born on September 12, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Gustave G. and Valla (Abel) Amsterdam.
AB, Haverford College, Pennsylvania, 1957. Doctor of Laws (honorary), Haverford College, Pennsylvania, 1993. Bachelor of Laws, University Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1960.
Doctor of Laws (honorary), John Jay College Criminal Justice, New York City, 1987.
Law clerk to, Supreme Court of the United States Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, 1960-1961;
assistant United State Attorneys, 1961-1962;
professor of law, University Pennsylvania, 1962-1969;
professor of law, Stanford University, 1969-1981;
Montgomery professor clinical legal education, Stanford University, 1980-1981;
professor of law, director clinical programs and trial advocacy, New York University, since 1981. Consultant litigating attorney numerous civil rights groups. Consultant government commissions.
Member Commission to Study Disturbances at Columbia, 1968. Trustee Death Penalty Information Center, Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund, National Coalition to abolish the Death Penalty, Southern Poverty Law Center, Brennan Center for Justice. Member California Federal Judicial Selection Committee, 1976-1980.
Member coordinator county on lawyer competence Conference of Chief Justices;general counsel New York Civil Liberties Union. Advisory counsel Civil Liberties Union Northern California. Member American Bar Association task force.
( In this remarkable collaboration, one of the nation's l...)
Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences.
Married Lois P. Sheinfeld, August 29, 1968.