This book examines the power of judicial review exercised by the United States Supreme Court and places legal analysis in conversation with democratic theory and popular sovereignty. It considers how constitutional structure constrains amendment and major institutional change, and asks whether the Constitution should be preserved through originalist interpretation or understood as a living document capable of adaptation. The book argues for reconsidering the Supreme Court’s role in judicial review and for modernizing American political institutions.

Using an interdisciplinary method that combines constitutional law, legal history, political philosophy, political science, and democratic theory, the book addresses readers interested in the relationship between constitutionalism, institutional design, and popular government.

George Skouras is an independent scholar and author whose work spans constitutionalism, jurisprudence, democratic theory, American history, political science, and the philosophy of law. He holds a J.D. from Rutgers Law School, an M.A. in Political Science from New York University, and an M.Phil. in Political Science from The New School for Social Research. His scholarship examines constitutional government, judicial review, democratic governance, political economy, legal history, telecommunications regulation, digital bottlenecks, homeowners’ associations, and the democratic commons. Earlier research addressed land-use law and the regulation of toxic and hazardous substances.