Erwin Chemerinsky

Clear and accessible description of the world that conservative originalists intend for us all to live in. While they pretend their arguments are principled and constitutional, in fact, as Chemerinsky demonstrates, they are political designs cloaked, when convenient and expedient, in a thin veneer of "objective" jurisprudence.

The belief that we should live in a world designed by men in the 18th century beggars the imagination. Society is incomparably larger, more complex, and more global than anything the Founders could have imagined. To argue that we are bound by the agrarian society that endorsed slavery, enfranchised only white propertied men, and consisted of only thirteen of today's fifty states, is sheer lunacy. Nonetheless, the majority of the Supreme Court, thanks to the machinations of Mitch McConnell in collusion with Donald Trump, espouse that very belief. We've already seen them overturn Roe and prepare the way to criminalize abortion (again), while this term they're very likely to eliminate affirmative action and tear down the wall between religion and the state.

Chemerinsky's book presents this in a thorough and authoritative manner, so that even originalists should feel they have a burden to show where he is wrong, rather than just pretend their political religion is self-evidently true.… (mehr)

Not finishing not because it's bad, but because I think I have the gist and now that I'm free of grad school there is SO MUCH FICTION I want to read!

But I've been thinking about this idea a lot lately, that the Constitution ought to be interpreted through the lens of the preamble. Simple but effective. But I just can't take reading all Chermerinsky's depressing examples of where the Supreme Court has failed us...especially as things are just getting worse by the day.

So yeah, I'm on board with you, Chermerinsky, and I think everyone in the Justice Department should read this.

On another note, the quality of the cover is really weird. It feels like it's the consistency of poster board, without any kind of lamination or anything. My copy is way more gross-looking and bent than it should be.… (mehr)