Preview of Levinson's Constitution Day Lecture

Sandy Levinson, the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood Jr. Centennial Chair Professor of Government at the University of Texas School of Law, will be giving the annual Constitution Day Lectureship at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on September 17. He offers a preview today on Balkinization. I share Prof. Levinson's concerns regarding "veneration" of our Constitution but hold more hope for the impact, if any, of Constitution Day. The Byrd Amendment essentially empowered academic constitutionalists to express our understanding and reservations regarding the Constitution and its modern operation. Many of us hold deep reservations about certain aspects of the U.S. Constitution. Thus, while Byrd may have visualized a form of celebratory teaching, we have the freedom to teach skepticism about the institutions and framework crafted in Philadelphia in 1787. And now, thanks to Senator Byrd, we have the means of securing funding so that Prof. Levinson can explain why he despairs about our constitutional fate.