Trial Magazine

The Heart of the Constitution: How the Bill of Rights Became the Bill of Rights

Gerard N. Magliocca
Oxford University Press
248 pp., $29.95
global.oup.com

In The Heart of the Constitution, Gerard N. Magliocca, a professor at Indiana University School of Law, takes us on a journey through the history of the Bill of Rights and how it came to prominence, starting with how and why it was first created. He identifies moments throughout our nation’s past that have been pivotal in the evolution of the Bill of Rights and how the interpretation and significance of those rights have changed in response to various threats to the legitimacy and viability of American democracy. The book includes a lot of information, but Magliocca’s narrative style and the way he weaves historical events into the story keep it from becoming overwhelming.

Although it was ratified in 1791, Magliocca explains how the Bill of Rights didn’t begin its rise to the cornerstone of U.S. constitutional law until the New Deal era. President Franklin D. Roosevelt invoked the Bill of Rights to legitimize the growth of federal power and to justify the New Deal. But it was through FDR’s efforts during World War II that these 10 amendments were solidified as the American gold standard of rights, liberty, and democracy.

The present-day significance of this resonated with me when I read a question that FDR posited during one of his signature “fireside chats” in 1934. He said people should examine their lives and ask themselves: “Have you lost any of your rights or liberty or constitutional freedom of action and choice?” He then added: “Turn to the Bill of Rights of the Constitution, which I have solemnly sworn to maintain and under which your freedom rests secure. . . . [A]sk yourself whether you personally have suffered the impairment of a single jot of these great assurances. I have no question in my mind as to what your answer will be.” If this were asked today, I have no question what the answer would be either.

The book provides a comprehensive history of the Bill of Rights that all plaintiff attorneys should know and shows how the Bill of Rights may offer a path for change. During a time when much of the public is experiencing discontent, anxiety, and even outright anger at the current political landscape, Magliocca reminds us that “a bill of rights is an ideal that can adapt to the highest aspirations of the American people and is often essential to fulfilling them.” His book teaches us that the Bill of Rights is malleable and can be redefined only if we support the major constitutional change necessary to meet the needs of America’s current values and ­identity.

Lisa Lee is an attorney at Andrus Wagstaff in Boston. She can be reached at lisa.lee@andruswagstaff.com.