LARB Digital Edition: The Law Issue

A collection of essays on the topic of the law and legal affairs, selected in order to give readers samples of the ways in which the subject of law relates to the study of ourselves and our times. Those included in this publication are just a sample of the books reviewed over the last year and a half – reviews that cover a variety of topics, some very current, some historical and some dealing with debates spanning centuries.A review of Judge Wilkinson’s Cosmic Constitutional Theory surveys the leading theories of the Constitution and how to interpret it. Two equally brilliant and contrasting views on the meaning of our nation’s founding document are provided through interviews with Justice Antonin Scalia and Yale Law Professor Akhil Reed Amar. Between these three pieces, the reader will find a sharp debate as to whether a literal reading or a living interpretation of the document should govern our age.Also included is a thoughtful treatment of the macroeconomic disconnect between the numbers of new lawyers churned out by our educational system and the market for these new entrants. To see how far we’ve come since the first women sought admission to the bar, read a review of Jill Norgren’s Rebels at the Bar: The Fascinating, Forgotten Stories of America’s First Women Lawyers.The articles featured in this publication, by the breadth of the issues they survey, show rather that the law is a rich bed of moral inquiry, an all too true reflection of our times and ourselves.