The Invisible Constitution (Inalienable Rights)

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The Invisible Constitution (Inalienable Rights)

Editorial Review

As everyone knows, the United States Constitution is a tangible, visible document. Many see it in fact as a sacred text, holding no meaning other than that which is clearly visible on the page. Yet as renowned legal scholar Laurence Tribe shows, what is not written in the Constitution plays a key role in its interpretation. Indeed some of the most contentious Constitutional debates of our time hinge on the extent to which it can admit of divergent readings.
In The Invisible Constitution, Tribe argues that there is an unseen constitution--impalpable but powerful--that accompanies the parchment version. It is the visible document's shadow, its dark matter: always there and possessing some of its key meanings and values despite its absence on the page. As Tribe illustrates, some of our most cherished and widely held beliefs about constitutional rights are not part of the written document, but can only be deduced by piecing together hints and clues from it. Moreover, some passages of the Constitution do not even hold today despite their continuing existence. Amendments may have fundamentally altered what the Constitution originally said about slavery and voting rights, yet the old provisos about each are still in the text, unrevised. Through a variety of historical episodes and key constitutional cases, Tribe brings to life this invisible constitution, showing how it has evolved and how it works. Detailing its invisible structures and principles, Tribe compellingly demonstrates the invisible constitution's existence and operative power.
Remarkably original, keenly perceptive, and written with Tribe's trademark analytical flair, this latest volume in Oxford's Inalienable Rights series offers a new way of understanding many of the central constitutional debates of our time.

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
• Difficult Read
  I was very interested in the topic and love to read, but I could not drag myself beyond the first few chapters.
  Our book group from various professions found "Invisible Constitution" "dense" and difficult reading. Most of the group finished less than half the book. A few brave souls finished and found it enlightening. They had to re-read many sentences to grasp their meaning.
  Reading "Invisible Constitution" was like reading the long sentences of Julius Caesar in 3rd year Latin.
  Had I... more info
• What's in the Constitution besides what's in it?
  There is a great deal more in constitutional law than is contained in the spare, sparse language of the U.S. Constitution. Or at lease Laurence Tribe believes so. Mr. Tribe is a constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School. Other than the justices on the supreme court, there is really no better authority on what constitutional law contains. Yet there is disagreement about this. Justice Antonin Scalia is well known for his strict adherence to the written words of the Constitution.
  Consider,... more info
• Disappointingly Wordy
  I confess I'm writing this review having only read 58 of its 211 pages. Sadly, he still hasn't gotten to the subject. This first 25% is all introduction where he writes, "This book is about..." and "This book will..." but he never (yet) does what he promises, which is to tell us about the Invisible Constitution.
  My sense is the writer has had an epiphany so brilliant (at least in his own mind) that he's entranced by it. I don't want to know what he's "going to" write about. It's assumed he's writing... more info
• excellent and informative
  I've finally found it!!! The book more soporific than my dissertation!!! Let me begin my review by saying that, as more an expansionist than a textualist like his colleague from Yale Law, Tribe presents a most agreeable argument to me. Basically, it is argued that the constitution is more than just a sheet of paper with precise words written on it that should not be interpreted by the US Supreme Court, but, rather modified by the citizens. Tribe argues that, of necessity, the USSC must interpret and expand... more info

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