Acknowledgments ; Chapter 1. Are We All Originalists Now? I Hope Not! ; Part I. The New Originalism and Its Originalist Discontents ; Chapter 2. The New Originalist Manifesto ; Chapter 3. Fidelity, Change, and the Good Constitution ; Part II. A Moral Reading or Philosophic Approach ; Chapter 4. Fidelity Through a Moral Reading or Philosophic Approach ; Chapter 5. The Place of Precedent and Common Law Constitutional Interpretation ; Part III. Living Originalism and Living Constitutionalism as Moral Readings ; Chapter 6. Fidelity Through Living Originalism: Redeeming the Promises of the Constitution ; Chapter 7. Fidelity to Our Living Constitution: Honoring the Achievements of We the People ; Part IV. Fidelity to Our Imperfect Constitution ; Chapter 8. Is It Time to Rewrite the Constitution? Fidelity Through Perfecting Our Imperfect ; Constitution ; Epilogue ; Index

"James Fleming exhorts us to recognize both the good and the bad in our nation's history, to honor the Constitution's aspirational commitments, and to realize our country's potential for a more perfect union. This remarkable book is a powerful statement of Fleming's moral reading of the Constitution and an excellent guide to contemporary constitutional theory." --Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment, Yale Law School "Fidelity to Our Imperfect Constitution is an impeccably fair-minded and erudite tour of modern constitutional theory. James Fleming shows that, notwithstanding its improvements over the reactionary 'old' originalism, the ostensibly 'new' originalism that has emerged in recent decades remains deeply flawed. Fleming picks up the torch laid down by the late great Ronald Dworkin as the leading champion of a moral reading of the Constitution. He is a worthy successor." --Michael C. Dorf, Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law, Cornell University Law School "Fidelity to Our Imperfect Constitution surveys the landscape of contemporary American constitutional theory with critical imagination and insight. In addition to mounting forceful attacks on the 'originalist' and 'living constitutionalist' approaches that have recently dominated the field, James Fleming emerges in this book as the ablest current defender of a 'moral reading' approach (long championed by Ronald Dworkin) that calls upon judges to make candid moral judgments in interpreting the Constitution that we have, not fashioning a new one." -Richard Fallon, Ralph S. Tyler, Jr. Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School "In Fidelity to Our Imperfect Constitution: For Moral Readings and Against Originalisms James Fleming argues persuasively against all forms of originalism. He presents in their stead a vigorous defense of a moral and philosophical approach to Constitutional meaning. The book is a welcome elucidation of neo-Dworkinian constitutional analysis, from a generous and thoughtful critic of our seeming rush to the false comfort of the authority of the Constitution's framers." --Robin West, Frederick Haas Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center "Building on the work of Ronald Dworkin and other scholars, Fleming (Boston Univ. School of Law) challenges the intellectual honesty and practical vitality of originalism. More important, though, Fleming develops a positive case for living constitutionalism as a theory that reflects the Constitution's aspirational spirit. Recommended." -S. B. Lichtman, Shippensburg University, hoice

Selling point: Systematically develops a moral reading or philosophic approach to constitutional interpretation Selling point: Provides vigorous but fair criticisms of many new versions of originalism and living constitutionalism Selling point: Constructively recasts the most sophisticated versions of living constitutionalism, on more defensible grounds, as moral readings of the Constitution Selling point: Concise while also comprehensive in its analysis of competing originalist and living constitutionalist approaches to constitutional interpretation Selling point: Makes complex arguments accessible to the informed general reader as well as academics

James E. Fleming is Professor of Law and The Honorable Frank R. Kenison Distinguished Scholar in Law at Boston University School of Law. He authored Ordered Liberty: Rights, Responsibilities, and Virtues (2013, with Linda C. McClain); Constitutional Interpretation: The Basic Questions (Oxford University Press, 2007, with Sotirios A. Barber); Securing Constitutional Democracy: The Case of Autonomy (2006); and American Constitutional Interpretation (5th ed., 2014, with Walter F. Murphy, Sotirios A. Barber & Stephen Macedo). He is the former Editor of Nomos, the annual book of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy.

Selling point: Systematically develops a moral reading or philosophic approach to constitutional interpretation Selling point: Provides vigorous but fair criticisms of many new versions of originalism and living constitutionalism Selling point: Constructively recasts the most sophisticated versions of living constitutionalism, on more defensible grounds, as moral readings of the Constitution Selling point: Concise while also comprehensive in its analysis of competing originalist and living constitutionalist approaches to constitutional interpretation Selling point: Makes complex arguments accessible to the informed general reader as well as academics