Constructing Basic Liberties: A Defense of Substantive Due Process

A strong and lively defense of substantive due process.

From reproductive rights to marriage for same-sex couples, many of our basic liberties owe their protection to landmark Supreme Court decisions that have hinged on the doctrine of substantive due process. This doctrine is controversial-a battleground for opposing views around the relationship between law and morality in circumstances of moral pluralism-and is deeply vulnerable today.

Against recurring charges that the practice of...