For the Balkinization Symposium on Neil S. Siegel, The Collective-Action Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2024)
Neil Siegel has written a grand book on collective action problems and their pervasive role within constitutional law. The volume of course includes thorough discussion of topics like the Commerce Clause where collective action logic is familiar, but it also journeys quite a bit farther, reaching such diverse matters as interstate compacts, national security, federal court jurisdiction, and the presidential veto. Methodologically, the book deploys historical, game theoretical, doctrinal, and many other tools. And, perhaps most compellingly, the book also situates “the Collective-Action Constitution” alongside other constitutions, such as “the Reconstruction Constitution” (p.357) that protects individual rights. Recognizing multiple constitutions allows the book to pursue its thesis without losing sight of other foundational legal values within the legal system. It is hard to capture how wide-ranging, inquisitive, and nuanced this project turns out to be. If you want to better understand virtually any structural issue in constitutional law, this book can help.