Description
Book SynopsisShould laws apply to everyone, or should some people be exempt because of conflicting religious or moral convictions? Through a close study of several cases, from abortion to taxes, Kent Greenawalt demonstrates how to weigh competing values without losing sight of practical considerations like the difficulty of implementing a specific law.
Trade ReviewThe qualities that make Greenawalt so universally and strongly admired are on full display here—thoughtfulness, mastery of detail, deep empathy for competing positions, and clear writing. This will be an important book, not only in the fraught present but also in the calmer future. -- Nelson Tebbe, Brooklyn Law School
This book deserves a good deal of attention. Like all of Greenawalt’s work,
Exemptions is clear, careful, and superbly parsed. -- Paul Horwitz, University of Alabama School of Law
Greenawalt, in this readable, informative, in-depth study, probes the under-researched area of government exemptions. The author’s primary focus is the basic underlying reasons for deciding to grant exemptions and determining their scope. Greenawalt persuasively illustrates, beyond recent controversial headlines, how to weigh
competing values favoring or opposing exemptions from historical, comparative, and critical perspectives. Readers of Greenawalt’s work will have the tools necessary to analyze today’s controversies resulting from Obergefell v. Hodges and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. The connecting thread between granting or opposing an exemption is Greenawalt’s contention that serious reflection on what should be done requires recognition of actual competing considerations and genuine concern for fellow citizens who differ from others in significant ways.
-- J. M. Trayhan * Choice *
