Trust and Distrust Across Constitutional Law

Abstract

A constitutional regime's basic stability and effectiveness depend upon appropriate trust and distrust. Trust by relevant parties, of deserving recipients, in proper contexts and degrees, is required for governmental efficiency, for meaningful social solidarity, and for general cultural flourishing. Based partly on our own personal experiences with trust among private parties, we all have some initial idea of what circumstances contribute to trust and distrust in the higher level constitutional context. This Article explores issues of trust and distrust across the constitutional spectrum. As it turns out, questions of equality and inequality, whether as a cause or as an effect of trust or distrust, are central to all such cases.

Keywords: constitutional rights, regime stability, trust, distrust

JEL Classification: J13, J30