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Rappaport on the Obama Administration & Transformative Change

By Lawrence Solum

Michael B. Rappaport (University of San Diego School of Law) has posted The Obama Administration, Fundamental Institutional Change, and the Constitutional Lawmaking System (Constitutional Commentary, Spring 2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This brief essay, written for a symposium on conservative and libertarian reactions to President Obama?s first year, focuses on the Obama Administration?s efforts to effect transformative change. The essay explores the limits in the existing Constitution for constraining such change. It also argues that a desirable constitution would contain substantial limits on such change. The essay then discusses three situations where fundamental institutional change was attempted - the New Deal, the Great Society, and the early Clinton Administration - and describes the different results that occurred in these situations. It concludes by examining the prospects for fundamental institutional change under the Obama Administration.

Highly recommended.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on March 26, 2010 (boomark / email).