The (Un)Written Constitution

Illuminates the unwritten ideas that underlie our deepest debates about the written Constitution. The late Justice Scalia relished pointing to departures from the written text of the Constitution as a departure from Constitutional law itself, but in fact his own jurisprudence relied on unwritten ideas. Given that Scalia''s "textualist" approach to constitutional interpretation has become even more prominent in recent years with the elevation of Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett--all jurists in the mold of Scalia--to the Supreme Court, it is crucial that the public understands that these textualists all rely on unwritten ideas when they interpret the Constitution. Indeed, our most intense debates about America''s written Constitution are not about constitutional text, but about the unwritten ideas and understandings that guide our reading of the text.In The (Un)Written Constitution, George Thomas makes these ideas visible by turning to the practices of Supreme Court justices and