In Memoriam: William H. Rehnquist: Chief Justice Rehnquist's Enduring, Democratic Constitution. (Testimonial‪)‬

We have all heard, read, and (probably) argued a good deal lately about the "judicial philosophy" of nominees to and Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. (1) Senate staffers, pundits, "big media" journalists, and bloggers have scoured the sources, including college research papers, job applications, appellate briefs, opinions, and even thank-you notes (2) looking for clues (or smoking guns). What would really be useful, though, are more documents like Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's essay The Notion of a Living Constitution. (3) This short piece was delivered as the Will E. Orgain Lecture and then published thirty years ago, back when Rehnquist was still the "Lone Ranger" (4)--"the Boss," and not "the Chief," to his clerks--and a relatively junior Associate Justice. And, not taking anything away from Princeton graduate Samuel Alito's senior thesis on the Italian Constitutional Court, (5) or now-Chief Justice Roberts's article exploring the limits on statutory standing imposed by Article III, (6) Rehnquist's article is about as clear, succinct, and coherent a statement of judicial philosophy as one could want. The members and editors of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and the Texas Law Review deserve our thanks for their initiative and generosity in reproducing this important, provocative, and--to many of us--compelling document.