Randy E. BarnettCritiques

In 2003, the Supreme Court declared that people who challenge the constitutionality of an economic regulation must "negative every conceivable basis" for that regulation if they are to prevail (Fitzgerald v. Racing Ass'n of Central Iowa). In other words, laws controlling private property or economic activity are presumed constitutional unless shown to be utterly arbitrary, without any evidence whatsoever in their favor. There was nothing novel about this: the Supreme Court has held this view for the past seventy years.
In Restoring the Lost Constitution, Randy Barnett takes aim at this idea with an argument laced with common sense. His book, subtitled "The Presumption of Liberty", brings together arguments he has made in previous articles and books with the goal of providing a systematic defense of a libertarian interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

He begins with the fundamental question: What makes government legitimate? He then proceeds to define the meaning of legal texts objectively, rather than on the basis of the subjective preferences of authors or contemporary political expediency. His project is an ambitious one for in doing this Barnett challenges a generation of legal theory from across the political spectrum, but does so without polemics, relying on the clarity of his arguments and the common-sense appeal of his positions to make his case. The result is a well-organized book that discusses the legitimacy, method and limits of the Constitution. He concludes with a section on the powers of the constitution that discusses both federal and state roles with a chapter on judicial applications.
In the final chapter Barnett makes clear the extent to which the Constitution has been "lost" and how the "Presumption of Liberty" would restore those sections that have been ignored for many decades. This is a magnificent defense of Constitutional liberty.½

Contrasting liberty with license, Randy Barnett with The Structure of Liberty returns to the ideas of our founding fathers as he rebuilds the foundation of liberty represented by a constitutional framework. His method is to start by describing the problems of knowledge, interest and power. He argues that a liberty "structured by justice" and defined by rights that are supported by the rule of law is required to solve these problems. He concludes his book with a section defending against objections that have been raised to the approach toward liberty he has described.
This thorough and well-written defense of liberty should be read by anyone who has a serious interest in the foundations of liberty. With the inclusion of an extensive bibliography this is a welcome addition to the library of individual of rights.