Law Commons^™

The Constitutionalization Of Law In The United States, Richard Kay, William B. Fisch

Faculty Articles and Papers

The United States may be the prime example of constitutionalization of the legal order. It was the first system (though no longer the only one) to make its written constitution directly applicable law, superior to all other sources of law, in all courts. A corollary to this legalization of the constitution is that the federal courts and a majority of state court systems will only entertain a constitutional claim in the context of a concrete dispute involving adversary parties with a specific stake in the outcome, and abstract review in these systems is unknown.