{"id":17090,"date":"2024-01-20T14:23:52","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T19:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/?page_id=17090"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:12:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:12:55","slug":"community-society-and-individualism-in-constitutional-law","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/in-print\/volume-111\/volume-111-issue-4-april-2023\/community-society-and-individualism-in-constitutional-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Community, Society, and Individualism in Constitutional Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alongside the familiar ideological splits in constitutional law lies <\/span>another division older and more fundamental. Since the Federalists<\/span><\/span> bat<\/span>tled<\/span><\/span> the Anti-Federalists, our allegiances have been divided between two <\/span>vastly different forms of social organization. Community is built around <\/span>the close, complex relationships among small groups of people, such as <\/span>the members of a family, the residents of a small town, or the<\/span><\/span> congre<\/span>gants<\/span><\/span> of a church. On the other hand, Society organizes limited<\/span><\/span> interac<\/span>tions<\/span><\/span> among relative strangers, pursuing efficiency or ideological ends. <\/span>Industrialization and urbanization ensured Society\u2019s dominance in<\/span><\/span> eco<\/span>nomic<\/span><\/span> life, politics, and law. Yet continued reverence for Community <\/span>ideals of connection and belonging keeps it a powerful force. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Society\u2019s<\/span> neglect<\/span> of<\/span> Community<\/span> is<\/span> deeply<\/span> destabilizing.<\/span> President <\/span>Trump\u2019s ability to speak to many voters\u2019 fear of Society obliterating <\/span>Community helped him triumph over establishment Republicans and <\/span>Democrats speaking the language of Society.<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This affinity for Community has shaped numerous constitutional<\/span><\/span> doc<\/span>trines.<\/span><\/span> Ideologically disparate Justices have united to protect key<\/span><\/span> mani<\/span>festations<\/span><\/span> of Community such as small towns, schools, local police, and <\/span>juries. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Ignoring Community has undermined constitutional litigation. It has <\/span>also led to the acceptance of dubious and inconsistent analogies between <\/span>different phenomena in Community and Society. This has warped<\/span><\/span> doc<\/span>trines<\/span><\/span> from campaign finance to affirmative action. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Community\u2019s champions must decide whether to continue to regard <\/span>the federal government as the paramount threat to be cabined whenever <\/span>possible, or to see it as Community\u2019s only hope for protection against <\/span>multinational corporations, Big Data, and other private sector threats. <\/span>This strategic choice will shape numerous areas of constitutional law.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Continue Reading Community, Society, and Individualism in Constitutional Law<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nGT-GGLJ230014<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alongside the familiar ideological splits in constitutional law lies another division older and more fundamental. Since the Federalists battled the Anti-Federalists, our allegiances have been divided between two vastly different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10024,"featured_media":0,"parent":17071,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"abstract.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-17090","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10024"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17090"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23244,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17090\/revisions\/23244"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/georgetown-law-journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}