Table of Contents

Preface 1. Introduction to American Constitutionalism A. Basic Constitutional Questions B. Identifying Basic Constitutional Questions C. Thinking About Basic Constitutional Questions 2. What is a Constitution? A. Classical Constitutionalism B. Modern Constitutionalism C. Contemporary Constitutionalism 3. Constitutional Purposes A. Constitutionalism and Democracy: The Dead Hand Problem B. Basic Constitutional Purposes C. American Constitutional Purposes D. The Virtues and Vices of Constitutionalism 4. Constitutional Interpretation A. The Living Constitution and Its Discontents B. Constitutional Arguments C. Constitutional Interpretation and Constitutional Purposes D. The Politics of Constitutional Argument 5. Constitutional Authority A. The Counter-Majoritarian Difficulty, Judicial Activism and Judicial Restraint B. Allocating Constitutional Authority C. Sharing Constitutional Authority D. The Politics of Shared Constitutional Authority E. Shared Constitutional Authority as Politics, Law, and Constitutionalism F. The Politics of Constitutional Argument 6. Constitutional Change A. Formal Constitutional Change B. Semi-Formal Constitutional Change C. Informal Constitutional Change D. The Law and Politics of Constitutional Change 7. American Constitutionalism in Global Perspective A. Foreign Policy: Two Constitutions? B. Comparative Constitutionalism: Universal or Particular C. A Higher Law? International Law and the Constitution D. The Particular and Universal Revisited 8. How Constitutions Work A. Of Cheeseburgers and Constitutions B. Constitutions as Constraining Politics C. Constitutions as Constructing Politics D. Constitutions as Constituting Politics E. The Self-Enforcing Constitution F. When Constitutions Do Not Work G. One Last Crisis