An article from last October's "Keeping Faith with the Constitution in Changing Times" symposium, co-sponsored by Constitutional Interpretation and Change Issue Group and Vanderbilt University Law School. The symposium was held at Vanderbilt University Law School in October 2006.

In Self-Government, Change and Justice, Rebecca L. Brown, Allen Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School, considers “why the Constitution should be binding on us” and what the implications of the answer are on constitutional interpretation. Professor Brown argues “the key to democratic legitimacy is the Constitution’s ability to provide a structure within which the polity can continue to exercise its right to self-government, including giving voice to its own commitments of political morality. Thus, it is imperative that the rights-bearing terms of the Constitution be interpreted in a way that can change and expand with the values of each generation. Not only is a dynamic constitutionalism defensible, therefore, it is absolutely essential in order for the Constitution to maintain its democratic legitimacy.”