Democracy in the details: A plea for substance over form in statutory interpretation

Many judges and scholars argue that the use of legislative history in inter preting statutes is undemocratic because it gives legal authority to materi als nor conclusively voted into law. In this Note, Michael Slade argues tha t under a civic republican conception of deliberative democracy, the use of legislative history promotes, rather than undermines, American republican democracy. Further, court's use of legislative history is critical to forci ng politicians to participate in deliberation, which Slade suggests is an i ntrinsic democratic good.