Modern Constitutional Theory: A Reader

Modern Constitutional Theory: A Reader can be used as a supplement to introductory courses in Constitutional Law, or as a text for a course in Constitutional Theory. The authors begin Chapter 1 with a look at some of the currently influential theories of the Constitution. In Chapter 2, the authors turn to the document itself and examine various proposals for interpreting it. In Chapter 3, the authors take up the closely allied problem of judicial review. Thereafter, the authors have organized the book to correspond with the major topics covered in casebooks on Constitutional Law. The authors have organized the chapters according to doctrinal categories, however the readings they contain are not an elaboration (or condensation) of doctrine such as one would find in a hornbook. The authors instead go deeper than a restatement of the law, to ask what and whose purposes are served by existing rules, and to inquire whether some other organization is preferable. Not all readings address these questions from the same point of view. The selections take opposing positions on each subject, in order to make students aware of the existing conflict and to facilitate class discussion of the materials.