A More Perfect Military: How the Constitution Can Make Our Military Stronger

“A More Perfect Military is a fascinating look at the growing, subtle divide in civil-military relations. Professor Mazur is an ideal author for such a work-former active duty air force officer as well as tenured law professor-one of only two women in the nation with such a distinction. This timely work is a must read for policy makers, academics, and journalists seeking to better understand the unique role of the military and military leaders’ roles, within our 21st century republic.”–Captain Glenn Sulmasy, Professor of Law, United States Coast Guard Academy, and author of The National Security Court System

“In A More Perfect Military, one of our nation’s most brilliant and relevant legal scholars deftly chronicles the emergence of a dangerous imbalance between the military and civil society. Mazur reminds us that blind faith in military judgment is not the same as genuine support for a strong military, much less a healthy civil-military relationship. She doesn’t just assert her case; she proves it by showing how the Rehnquist Court invented a history that never existed, and spun out of whole cloth the doctrine of judicial deference to the military. Reversing the shopworn tale of liberal judicial activism, this book is a badly-needed cautionary tale of judicial abdication, and its real-life consequences.”–Nathaniel Frank, Senior Research Fellow, Palm Center, University of California-Santa Barbara, and author of Unfriendly Fire

“In this brilliant and persuasive book, veteran military officer and law professor Diane Mazur advances an unpleasant but incontestable truth: that the courts (the Supreme Court in particular) have abandoned their duty to exercise judicial authority over the armed services as required by the Constitution of the United States. Judges and justices, political and military leaders, and above all the American people ignore the warnings in this towering work of scholarship-the most important book on civil-military relations in a decade-at their peril.”–Richard H. Kohn, Professor of History and Peace, War, and Defense, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and former Chief of Air Force History for the USAF, 1981-1991

“Finally! Someone has started the national conversation that will ultimately lead to a more effective U.S. Armed Force and a more secure nation. In A More Perfect Military, Diane Mazur asks the important questions that we as a nation have been afraid to ask. Bulldozing through politically correct barricades, this book addresses the issues that limit, rather than enhance, our nation’s strength. You may not agree with every word, but you will be a better informed American for having read it.”–John D. Hutson, Dean & President, Franklin Pierce Law Center