Constitutional Choices
Laurence H. Tribe...has provided in the essays inConstitutional Choicesa brisk commentary on developments since 1978 [in American constitutional law]...This acute and wide-ranging commentary also offers ostensive proof that Americans cannot simply choose what to believe about the Constitution in the absence of all interpretive theory. (Geoffrey MarshallTimes Literary Supplement)Professor Laurence Tribe'sConstitutional Choicesis a collection of essays at the cutting edge of constitutional law. One of the country's leading constitutional scholars...Tribe possesses all of the analytical background necessary to explore burning constitutional issues with insight and wisdom...Constitutional Choiceshas so much going for it that every constitutional scholar--political scientist, teacher, judge, historian, congressman, and advocate alike--has to own it, to peruse at leisure and to refer to with pride. The belief in principle that underlies the book, the self-doubt, the recognition that choice is not the 'instrumental calculation of utility or...[the] pseudo-scientific calibrations of social cost against social benefit' all enrich our understanding of the Constitution. In sum, Professor Tribe has achieved his goal of having the whole add up to more than the sum of all the parts. (James L. OakesHarvard Law Review)Constitutional Choicesconsists of 16 superb--at times brilliant--essays...that argue against the present trend of grand constitutional theory toward a segmentation into groups of scholars who advocate that the legitimacy of judicial review can only be sustained by staying close the Framers' intentions (Robert Bork), by proceduralism (reinforcing the structures of representation and stopping racial prejudice, e.g., John Hart Ely), or by creating rights (Michael Perry)...The strength of the book is that it actually shows us one of the foremost constitutional scholars and practitioners at work making constitutional choices--that is, considering the relationship in the Constitution between structural values and rights values in the light of the realities of economic and social power. His analyses result in a most perceptive critique of constitutional theory and the practice of the Burger Court. (Ronald KahnAmerican Political Science Review)Professor Tribe is revealed again in this volume as a graceful writer and a brilliant analyst of constitutional law...The publication ofConstitutional Choicesis an occasion for celebration. (Judge David L. Bazelon, U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. District)