This book provides a critical introduction to the history and current meaning of the United States' Constitution. It is organised around two themes: Firstly, the US Constitution is old, short, and difficult to amend. These characteristics have made constitutional 'interpretation', especially by the US Supreme Court, the primary mechanism for adapting the Constitution to ever-changing reality. Secondly, the Constitution creates a structure of political opportunities that allows political actors, including political parties, to pursue the preferred policy goals even to the point of altering the very structure of politics. Politics, that is, often gives meaning to the Constitution. Deploying these themes to examine the structure of the national government, federalism, judicial review, and individual rights, the book provides basic information about, and deeper insights into, the way the US constitutional system has developed and what it means today.

Mark Tushnet is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He was President of the Association of American Law Schools in 2003, and in 2002 was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Photo by Martha Stewart.
MARK TUSHNET is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Among his many books are The American Law of Slavery, 1818-1860, Central America and the Law, and Constitutional Law, and he is the author of numerous articles on constitutional law and history.

1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE US CONSTITUTION
2 THE CONSTITUTIONAL POLITICS OF THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
3 THE CONSTITUTIONAL POLITICS OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
4 THE CONSTITUTIONAL POLITICS OF THE JUDICIAL BRANCH
5 FEDERALISM AND THE REACH OF NATIONAL POWER
6 INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION
7 THE PROCESSES OF CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE