http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/2681408

Law and the company we keep

Whether we are black, gay, Republican, women, or deaf, our associations - whether voluntary or assigned - constitute crucial and inescapable elements of our identities. Both voluntary and involuntary groups have been important in American history - more important than is generally recognized. But these groups have never been adequately addressed by law, which has as its primary focus the relationship between the individual and the state. The company we keep, says constitutional law scholar Aviam Soifer, is presumed to be each person's own business, and generally beyond notice of the law. But as America becomes a more varied country and issues arising out of multiculturalism threaten to divide us, it becomes essential, Soifer argues, to recognize rights under the First Amendment that will protect the crucial roles of groups and communities within the larger national community.

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