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Reading Between the Lines, Part 1
Discover how the Constitution's unwritten principles and holistic interpretation solve puzzles like a vice president presiding over his own impeachment trial.
Lecture guide · Written by AI from the lecture. For the lecture’s own words, open the Transcript tab.
Introduces holistic constitutional interpretation, contrasting literal word-by-word reading with reading the document as a whole in light of its overarching purposes. Akhil Reed Amar applies Blackstone's absurdity canon to the puzzle of whether the Vice President presides at his own impeachment trial and examines how John Marshall upheld a national bank in McCulloch v. Maryland without an explicit bank clause.
This lecture assumes
Key Takeaways
- Holistic constitutional interpretation looks beyond literal text to the document's overall spirit, structure, and purpose.
- Blackstone's absurdity canon allows interpreters to depart from literal text in weird, peripheral applications to avoid absurd results.
- The fundamental rule of law dictates that no person can be a judge in their own case.
- In McCulloch v. Maryland, John Marshall justified the legality of a national bank by reading the Constitution as a whole in service of national security.
Concepts Explained5
Unwritten Constitution—Principles and interpretations going beyond the literal text of the written Constitution while remaining faithful to its overarching project.
Absurdity doctrine—A canon of construction allowing judges to disregard literal statutory meaning when it would lead to an absurd result the legislature did not intend.
Rule of Law—The supreme law of the land where no man can be a judge in his own case.
Rule of Absurdity—A canon of legal interpretation that permits deviating from the literal meaning of a sentence or clause to make sense of a document as a whole.
Examples, Proofs & Derivations
Works & Sources Cited4
Book
Commentaries on the Laws of England—Four-volume treatise by William Blackstone on English law, widely read in revolutionary America.
Case
Marbury v. Madison—Supreme Court case about judicial review.
Case
Brown v. Board of Education—Supreme Court case about segregation in public schools.
Case
McCulloch v. Maryland—Supreme Court case in which John Marshall upheld the power of the federal government to have a national bank.
Part of course·Lecture 1 of 19
LAW-CONST2: America's Unwritten Constitution
Start of sequence
Next · Lecture 2Opening lecture of 19-session syllabus
Reading Between the Lines, Part 2
About the lecturer
Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University
Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University and one of the most cited scholars of the U.S. Constitution.
2 courses · 35 lectures in archiveView profile
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