Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy
Publication Date
2019
ISSN
1536-5077
Page Number
441
Keywords
originalism, constitution, constitutional history
Disciplines
Constitutional Law | Law
Abstract
How many ways can conservatives spin an originalist tale to support their deregulatory, small-government vision? The answer is apparently infinite. In a new book, Gary Lawson and Guy Seidman are the latest in a long line of scholars who insist that the real original meaning of the Constitution demands unwinding the regulatory state and substantially limiting the power of the federal government. They argue that the Constitution is a fiduciary instrument, specifically a power of attorney. After summarizing the book, this essay turns to three of its most important failings, each of which serves to make the book a work of politics, not history. In the end, their account is imaginative but their Constitution is imaginary.
Recommended Citation
Suzanna Sherry,
The Imaginary Constitution, 17 Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy. 441
(2019)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1106