The Constitution of Risk

Adrian Vermeule is John H. Watson Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is the author or co-author of seven previous books, most recently The System of the Constitution (2011). He was formerly Bernard D. Meltzer Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012.

• Part I. Theory: 1. Precautionary constitutionalism; 2. Optimizing constitutionalism: the mature position; Part II. Applications: 3. Checks and balances in the extended republic: the framers' self-defeating precautions; 4. The risks of impartiality: on judging in one's own cause; 5. The risks of deliberation: second opinions; 6. The risks of expertise: political administration and expert groupthink.

'With characteristic lucidity and vigor, and by compelling examples, Adrian Vermeule launches a devastating attack on abstract possibilistic reasoning in the law and in politics. He shows how risk-management itself may create risks by focusing on worst-case scenarios or by relying on stereotypical preconceptions, and offers a robust alternative that enjoins us to weigh the risks of inaction as well as those of action.' Jon Elster, Columbia University, New York