Originalism and living constitutionalism, so often understood to be diametrically opposing views of our nation's founding document, are not in conflict--they are compatible. So argues Jack Balkin, one of the leading constitutional scholars of our time, in this long-awaited book. Step by step, Balkin gracefully outlines a constitutional theory that demonstrates why modern conceptions of civil rights and civil liberties, and the modern state's protection of national security, health, safety, and the environment, are fully consistent with the Constitution's original meaning. And he shows how both liberals and conservatives, working through political parties and social movements, play important roles in the ongoing project of constitutional construction. By making firm rules but also deliberately incorporating flexible standards and abstract principles, the Constitution's authors constructed a framework for politics on which later generations could build. Americans have taken up this task, producing institutions and doctrines that flesh out the Constitution's text and principles. Balkin's analysis offers a way past the angry polemics of our era, a deepened understanding of the Constitution that is at once originalist and living constitutionalist, and a vision that allows all Americans to reclaim the Constitution as their own.

傑剋·M.巴爾金(Jack M．Balkin，1956一)，現任耶魯大學法學院憲法學與第一修正案奈特教授，耶魯大學信息社會項目創始人和負責人、耶魯大學奈特法律和傳媒項目負責人、艾布拉姆斯錶達自由學會負責人、美國藝術與科學學院院士，並創建法律博客“巴爾金之傢”(Balkinization)。1978年和1981年分彆獲得哈佛大學學士學位和法律博士學位，1995年獲得劍橋大學哲學博士學位。主要代錶作有：《活的原旨主義》(Living Originalism，Harvard University Press，2011)、《憲法救贖：對不公世界的政治信仰》(Constitutional Redemption：Political Faith in an Unjust World，Harvard University Press，2011)；《2020年的憲法》(與麗娃·西格爾閤編)(The Constitution in 2020，Oxford University Press，2009)；《文化軟件：一種意識形態理論》(Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology．Yale University Press，1998)等。