The Modalities of Constitutional Argument: A Primer

Abstract

This piece is a contribution to Linda Edwards's upcoming book "Readings In Persuasion: Briefs That Changed the World" (forthcoming Wolters Kluwer). In it I offer a short primer on the modalities of constitutional argument, as Philip Bobbitt has described them. As someone who teaches Constitutional Law with the primary goal of educating future practitioners, I have always brought Bobbitt’s very practical (while also very theoretical) work into my classroom discussions. I have regularly used the first chapter of Bobbitt’s "Constitutional Interpretation" as an introductory text on the subject, but I have sometimes found the reading to be too long and/or theoretical for first year students. With this in mind, I hope this primer can be a valuable contribution to the practical literature on constitutional argument.

Keywords: Bobbitt, Modalities, Constitutional Theory, Primer