Can (and Should) This Marriage Be Saved? Emancipatory and Colonialist Aspirations in American Constitutionalism

Abstract Aziz Rana has written a second major analysis of the American legal and political system, building on but going beyond his earlier work, The Two Faces of American Freedom. In The Constitutional Bind, Rana shows persuasively how, when, and why Americans came to treat deeply flawed features of the 1787 Constitution as sacrosanct. But while his works provide invaluable critical insights, Rana unduly minimizes the roles of the Declaration of Independence and the Reconstruction and twentieth century constitutional amendments in inspiring and aiding significant reform movements. The Constitutional Bind does so at a time when inspiration and aid to broad coalition-building for reform are severely needed, making it unwise to set aside resonant resources for those endeavors.