A recent scholarly claim (in Richard Primus’s new book, as discussed in this review) argues that the Constitution’s enumerated list of powers was intended to justify expanding federal authority rather than to cabin it. The book coins 'enumerationism' as an ideological habit that has long misled Americans into treating enumeration as limitation.
— If adopted, this reinterpretation would shift constitutional argument, affecting Supreme Court doctrines, federal regulatory scope, and political rhetoric about the proper size of national government.
Max Skjönsberg
2026.04.08
75% relevant
The article highlights Maine’s argument that the U.S. Constitution’s stability stems from experience and institutional design rather than abstract democratic theory, directly supporting the existing claim that the founders intended a robust federal structure to withstand popular‑government perils.
Aaron N. Coleman
2026.03.04
100% relevant
Richard Primus’s The Oldest Constitutional Question is the book under review; the reviewer summarizes Primus’s claim that enumerationism is an ideological misreading and cites Jefferson’s Kentucky Resolutions as the interpretive foil.
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