Judge Richard Posner offers a rather harsh critique of Akhil Amar’s new book The Unwritten Constitution in a video presentation recorded yesterday that you can watch here, hosted by the Columbia chapter of the Federalist Society. Posner argues that Amar’s theory is just an effort to recast the Constitution into whatever Amar likes as a policy matter. Amar’s book also shows how divorced academic theorists have become from actual legal decisionmaking. In Posner’s words, “no judge or practicing lawyer would touch this book with a 10-foot pole.”
Posner also expands on his critical views on Scalia & Garner’s book, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts.