Panorama of the United States Supreme Court at dusk in Washington DC, USA (Joe Ravi/Shutterstock.com).There’s No Such Thing as a Constitutional Free Lunch
A U.S Customs and Border Protection vehicle in New York, New York, February 14, 2017. Image: Roman Tiraspolsky / Shutterstock.com
Constitutions are supposed to create a framework of good government that cannot be easily upended. As Justice David Brewer remarked, the Constitution is supposed to protect “Peter sober from Peter drunk.” Or to use the canonical analogy from classical literature, a good constitution functions like the ropes that prevent Ulysses from throwing himself into the sea in response to the sirens’ call.
Frequently, however, the United States Constitution is criticized for its inability to accommodate the current preferences of the people.
