This treatise on constitutional law is organized around issues, or constitutional functions, rather than being a sequential discussion of the text to the Constitution. Professor Tribe provides analysis of constitutional law doctrine and policy. The text is heavily footnoted with references to treatises, law review articles, the U.S. Code, and Supreme Court cases. It concentrates on the Constitution's provisions for government structure and on how constitutional structure helps guarantee protection of substantive rights and liberties.

Our Constitution speaks in general terms of "liberty" and "property," of the "privileges and immunities" of citizens, and of the "equal protection of the laws"--open-ended phrases that seem to invite readers to reflect in them their own visions and agendas. Yet, recognizing that the Constitution cannot be merely what its interpreters wish it to be, this volume's authors draw on literary and mathematical analogies to explore how the fundamental charter of American government should be construed today.

Constitutional Choices illuminates the world of scholarship and advocacy uniquely combined by Laurence Tribe, one of the nation's leading professors of constitutional law and most successful practitioners before the Supreme Court. In his new hook, Tribe boldly moves beyond the seemingly endless debate over which judicial approaches to enforcing the Constitution are "legitimate" and which are not. Arguing that all claims to legitimacy must remain suspect, Tribe focuses instead on the choices that must nonetheless be made in resolving actual constitutional controversies. To do so, he examines problems as diverse as interstate banking, gender discrimination, church subsidies, the constitutional amendment process, the war powers of the President, and First Amendment protection of American Nazis. Challenging the ruling premises underlying many of the Supreme Court's positions on fundamental issues of government authority and individual rights, Tribe shows how the Court is increasingly coming to resemble a judicial Office of Management and Budget, straining constitutional discourse through a managerial sieve and defending its constitutional rulings by "balancing" what it counts as "costs" against what it deems "benefits." Tribe explains how the Court's "Calculus" systematically excludes basic concerns about the distribution of wealth and power and conceals fundamental choices about the American polity. Calling for a more candid confrontation of those choices and of the principles and perspectives they reflect, Tribe exposes what has gone wrong and suggests how the Court can begin to reclaim the historic role entrusted to it by the Constitution.

"An important work on a monumental subject." —Anna Quindlen, New York Times Book Review

On profound questions of birth, death, and human choice that are raised by abortion—where opposing sides see no common ground—how can the conflict be managed? The abortion debate in the United States today involves all Americans in complex questions of sex and power, historical change, politics, advances in medicine, and competing social values. In this best-selling book, an eminent constitutional authority shows how the nation has struggled with these questions and then sets forth new approaches that reflect both sides' passionately held convictions. The paperback edition includes discussion of the latest court decisions and excerpts from the major cases, including the Supreme Court's landmark June 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

"A wide-ranging book about the controversy by a brilliant scholar and teacher of constitutional law. . . . Tribe offers a dazzling array of arguments and approaches. . . . Tribe's final approach to abortion, an informative discussion of new contraceptive and procreative technologies, holds out the hope of transcending the conflict rather than finding the common ground among its current parties." —Amy Gutmann, The New Republic

"A marvelously thoughtful guide to all facets of the current abortion controversy. . . . Makes constructive suggestions for bridging the gulf that separates the sides in the too-polarized abortion debate. . . . Professor Tribe's thoughtful analysis will deepen your understanding both of your own position and that of others." —Nadine Strossen, president, American Civil Liberties Union

"Wise and powerful. . . . Intelligent people will not only learn something helpful from [this] book, they will also be able to read it. . . . The book is more than lucid: it is vibrant with ethical passion." —Nelson W. Aldrich, Jr., New England Monthly

"Important. . . . Tackles the conflicts of the abortion issue in a rational and humane manner. . . . Tribe explains in a clear, conversational style the many changes in abortion law—and the pressures that continue to build behind the scenes on each side of the 'life vs. liberty' controversy." —San Francisco Chronicle