The Global Model of Constitutional Rights: A Response to Afonso da Silva, Harel, and Porat

Abstract

This essay responds to Virgílio Afonso da Silva, Alon Harel, and Iddo Porat, who offered critical comments on my book The Global Model of Constitutional Rights at a symposium at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in December 2013. Their comments, together with this response, will be published in the Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies.

The paper deals with, first, questions relating to the methodology of my book (in particular the nature of my theory as morally reconstructive, and its global character), second, the role of autonomy (in particular its relation to equality, and my defence of a general right to autonomy), and third, the problem of justification (outcome-based versus excluded reasons-based ways of reasoning about questions of rights).