Real Existing Liberal Constitutionalism in advance

The U.S. Constitution is one example of liberal constitutionalism. Yet there are longstanding features to U.S. law at odds with liberal constitutionalism. This paper examines past and recent illiberal Supreme Court verdicts. An examination of case law shows that illiberal democracy is an enduring feature to legal practice. What I call real existing liberal constitutionalism identifies law that undermines liberal constitutionalism, yet whose defenders claim advances liberal constitutionalism. By adopting insights from recent scholarship on illiberalism and identity power, we can see that illiberal democracy is an apt term for a central rather than peripheral feature to legal practice.

Constitution · Constitutionalism · Democracy · Liberal democracy · Liberalism · Scholarship · Supreme court · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies