Ian Bartrum

What's the most important thing you are working on right now?

I’m currently finishing up a dense piece on the intellectual history of American judicial power and judicial review. In particular, I trace the history of two ideas—popular sovereignty and the separation of powers—from their classical roots, through the medieval period, to the Enlightenment and the American Revolution. I conclude that on the eve of the constitutional convention, Americans had begun to understand sovereignty and its associated prerogatives as something like a metaphorical bundle of sticks, which might be delegated to separate and independent political institutions. The “constitutional prerogative”—the authority to declare the legal limits of constitutionally delegated power—fell to the Article III courts. In this way, the Supreme Court stands in for the People in enforcing the terms of the constitutional compact.

 
What is the most significant issue facing your field and how should it be addressed?

I think we are facing a real test to our constitutional commitments in the form of a President with very little respect for norms, tradition, or the rule of law. I think the biggest challenge for constitutional lawyers and academics is to gain a deeper understanding of our national first principles, and then articulate them in compelling ways to as broad an audience as possible. I think a real constitutional crisis is possible in the near future, and it is incumbent on folks who study and value our intellectual traditions and institutional values to rise o the challenge.