The Constitution Today: Timeless Lessons for the Issues of Our Era

A leading legal scholar addresses the most important constitutional controversies of the past two decades and illuminates the Constitutions spirit and ongoing relevanceAmericas Constitution, Chief Justice John Marshall famously observed in McCulloch v. Maryland, aspires to endure for ages to come. The daily news has a shorter shelf life, and when the issues of the day involve momentous constitutional questions, presentminded journalists and busy citizens cannot always see the stakes clearly.In The Constitution Today, Akhil Reed Amar, Americas preeminent constitutional scholar, considers the biggest and most bitterly contested debates of the last two decades and provides a passionate handbook for thinking constitutionally about todays headlines. Amar shows how the Constitutions text, history, and structure are a crucial repository of collective wisdom, providing specific rules and grand themes relevant to every organ of the American body politic. Prioritizing sound constitutional reasoning over partisan preferences, he makes the case for diversitybased affirmative action and a right to have a gun in ones home for selfprotection, and against spending caps on independent political advertising and bans on samesex marriage. He explains whats wrong with presidential dynasties, advocates a nuclear option to restore majority rule in the Senate, and suggests ways to reform the Supreme Court. And he revisits three dramatic constitutional conflicts the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the contested election of George W. Bush, and the fight over Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act to show what politicians, judges, and journalists got right as events unfolded and what they missed.Leading readers through the particular constitutional questions at stake in each episode while outlining his abiding views regarding the Constitutions letter, its spirit, and the direction constitutional law must go, Amar offers an essential guide for anyone seeking to understand Americas Constitution and its relevance today.