We the People

Michael J. Perry holds the University Distinguished Chair in Law at Wake Forest University. From 1982 to 1997, he taught at the Nothwestern University School of Law, where he held the Howard J. Trienens Chair in Law. Perry is the author of several books, including The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries (Oxford, 1998), Religion in Politics: Constitutional and Moral Perspectives (Oxford, 1997), The Constitution in the Courts: Law or Politics? (Oxford, 1994), and Love and Power: The Role of Religion and Morality in American Politics (Oxford, 1991).

Perry has written an ambitious, thoughtful, and provocative book that combines theoretical analysis of interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment with nuanced discussions of several specific constitutional cases. It is a worthy addition to the large and diverse scholarly literature on the Fourteenth Amendment.--Perspectives on Politics Science

• Preface ; 1. Introduction: "The Judicial Usurpation of Politics" ; 2. What is "the Constitution" (And Other Fundamental Questions) ; 3. The Fourteenth Amendment: What Norms Did "We the People" Establish? ; 4. The Fourteenth Amendment and Race: Segregation and Affirmative Action ; 5. Beyond Race: Sex and Sexual Orientation ; 6. Further Beyond: Abortion and Physician-Assisted Suicide ; 7. Concluding Reflections