3 Chi J Intl L 471
Iris Marion Young

This article constructs Mark Tushnet’s account of legal systems, in State Action, Social Welfare Rights, and the Judicial Role: Some Comparative Observations, as societies that lay within a continuum, which consists of the classical liberal state at one end and the social democratic state at the other. It presents four questions regarding why Tushnet believes legal systems should move towards the social democratic end. First it questions the courts’ knowledge of social democratic norms. Second, it questions the source of pressure on courts to recognize these norms. Third, it explores the classification of non-discrimination as a social democratic norm. Lastly, it discusses what role courts should play in the growth of the democratic process.