Description
Book SynopsisIs the United States Constitution the embodiment of certain principles? The four authors of this book for a variety of reasons, and with somewhat different emphases, believe the answer is no. Those who authored the Constitution no doubt all believed in liberty, equality, and, with caveats, republican self-government values, or if you will, principles. But they had different conceptions of those principles and what those principles entailed for constituting a government. Although the Constitution they created reflected, in some sense, their principles, the Constitution itself was a specific list of do’s and don’ts that its creators hoped would gain the allegiance of the newly independent and sovereign states. And, for somewhat different reasons, the authors of this book believe that was a good thing.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1: Unpretentious Beginnings: The Merely Legal Constitution
Steven D. Smith
Chapter 2: The Not-Your-Ancestors’, Principle-Plush Constitution
Steven D. Smith
Chapter 3: So You Think You Want a Constitution of Principles
Larry Alexander
Chapter 4: Mushy Constitutional Principles Enabling Puffed-Up Judicial Policymaking: I’m Against, on Principle
James Allan
Chapter 5: The Power—and Peril—of Principle
Maimon Schwarzschild
Bibliography
About the Authors
