Robin West is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches and writes in the fields of constitutional law, feminist legal theory, and law and literature. She is the author of Narrative, Authority, and Law.

• Introduction 1Part I. Equal Protection of the Laws 1. Toward an Abolitionist Interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment 92. Equality Theory, Marital Rape, and the Promise of the Fourteenth Amendment 453. The Meaning of Equality and the Interpretive Turn 73Part II. Due Process of law 4. Reconstructing Liberty 1055. The Ideal of Liberty 1296. Toward a First Amendment Jurisprudence of Respect 144Part III. Institutional Responsibilities 7. Constitutional Skepticism 1558. The Authoritarian Impulse in Constitutional Law 1909. Progressive and Conservative Constitutionalism 21110. The Aspirational Constitution 290Notes 319Index 355

"This book will be an extremely important and influential contribution to the literature. Readers will find the book of great help in understanding the important differences between various strands of constitutional and interpretative theory."-Mary E. Becker, University of Chicago Law School "West takes on the challenge of developing a transformational constitutionalism with great energy, eloquence, and intellectual integrity. Her argumentation throughout is forceful, clear, well-reasoned, and at the same time gives the sense of being driven by passionate commitments crystallized into broad principles. It is an exciting combination, and it makes an exciting book, one that should find a wide and ready audience."-Thomas C. Grey, Stanford Law School

Robin West is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches and writes in the fields of constitutional law, feminist legal theory, and law and literature. She is the author of Narrative, Authority, and Law.

• Introduction 1Part I. Equal Protection of the Laws 1. Toward an Abolitionist Interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment 92. Equality Theory, Marital Rape, and the Promise of the Fourteenth Amendment 453. The Meaning of Equality and the Interpretive Turn 73Part II. Due Process of law 4. Reconstructing Liberty 1055. The Ideal of Liberty 1296. Toward a First Amendment Jurisprudence of Respect 144Part III. Institutional Responsibilities 7. Constitutional Skepticism 1558. The Authoritarian Impulse in Constitutional Law 1909. Progressive and Conservative Constitutionalism 21110. The Aspirational Constitution 290Notes 319Index 355

"This book will be an extremely important and influential contribution to the literature. Readers will find the book of great help in understanding the important differences between various strands of constitutional and interpretative theory."-Mary E. Becker, University of Chicago Law School "West takes on the challenge of developing a transformational constitutionalism with great energy, eloquence, and intellectual integrity. Her argumentation throughout is forceful, clear, well-reasoned, and at the same time gives the sense of being driven by passionate commitments crystallized into broad principles. It is an exciting combination, and it makes an exciting book, one that should find a wide and ready audience."-Thomas C. Grey, Stanford Law School

Robin West is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches and writes in the fields of constitutional law, feminist legal theory, and law and literature. She is the author of Narrative, Authority, and Law.

• Introduction 1Part I. Equal Protection of the Laws 1. Toward an Abolitionist Interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment 92. Equality Theory, Marital Rape, and the Promise of the Fourteenth Amendment 453. The Meaning of Equality and the Interpretive Turn 73Part II. Due Process of law 4. Reconstructing Liberty 1055. The Ideal of Liberty 1296. Toward a First Amendment Jurisprudence of Respect 144Part III. Institutional Responsibilities 7. Constitutional Skepticism 1558. The Authoritarian Impulse in Constitutional Law 1909. Progressive and Conservative Constitutionalism 21110. The Aspirational Constitution 290Notes 319Index 355

"This book will be an extremely important and influential contribution to the literature. Readers will find the book of great help in understanding the important differences between various strands of constitutional and interpretative theory."-Mary E. Becker, University of Chicago Law School "West takes on the challenge of developing a transformational constitutionalism with great energy, eloquence, and intellectual integrity. Her argumentation throughout is forceful, clear, well-reasoned, and at the same time gives the sense of being driven by passionate commitments crystallized into broad principles. It is an exciting combination, and it makes an exciting book, one that should find a wide and ready audience."-Thomas C. Grey, Stanford Law School