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A Life for Liberty

The Making of an American Originalist

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Publication Details

Hardcover / 648 pages
ISBN: 9781641773775
Available: 7/2/2024


A Life for Liberty
The Making of an American Originalist

From prosecuting murderers in Chicago, to arguing before the Supreme Court, to authoring more than a dozen books, Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett has played an integral role in the rise of originalism—the movement to identify, restore, and defend the original meaning of the Constitution. Thanks in part to his efforts, by 2018 a majority of sitting Supreme Court justices self-identified as “originalists.”

After writing seminal books on libertarianism and contract law, Barnett pivoted to constitutional law. His mission to restore “the lost Constitution” took him from the schoolhouse to the courthouse, where he argued the medical marijuana case of Gonzeles v. Raich in the Supreme Court—a case now taught to every law student. Later, he devised and spearheaded the constitutional challenge to Obamacare.

All this earned him major profiles in such publications as Washington PostWall Street Journal, and New York Times.Now he recounts his compelling journey from a working-class kid in Calumet City, Illinois to “Washington Power Breaker,” as the Congressional Quarterly Weekly called him.

In A Life for Liberty, Barnett writes candidly about his career strategies, and how he overcame his outsider status, his insecurities, and the mistakes he made along the way. The engaging story of his rise from obscurity to one of the most influential thinkers in America is an inspiring how-to guide for anyone seeking to advance the cause of justice and liberty for all.


About the Author

Randy Barnett is the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where he directs the Georgetown Center for the Constitution.

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