Professional Reading: Michelman on Socioeconomic Rights in Constitutional Law

Check out Frank I. Michelman's (Harvard Law School) draft paper, Socioeconomic Rights in Constitutional Law: Explaining America Away. Here's the abstract:

The apparent omission of a socioeconomic commitment from United States constitutional law gives rise to continuing debate. The case is unclear that this omission has any likely bearing on the actual performance of American governments in the social welfare field. Might there be other reasons for treating the omission as problematic? If so, might the omission nevertheless be explained in terms consistent with belief that some kind of socioeconomic commitment ideally belongs in the constitutional law of a country like the U.S.? After briefly reviewing the uneasy instrumental case for a constitutionalized socioeconomic commitment, this article suggests a different possible ground for favoring inclusion as a matter of political-moral principle. It then canvasses possible responses to the American case. These include both a possible denial that socioeconomic guarantees are in fact lacking from U.S. constitutional law, and a possible claim that omitting them is the correct choice for the U.S. as a matter of “non-ideal” political morality.

Hat tip to Proverty Law Prof Blog. [JH]