51 Imperfect Solutions [No. 86]

Does the U.S. Supreme Court have too much of a role in defining rights protections--creating too much of a one-size-fits-all approach that state courts rely on instead of taking their duty to interpret state constitutions seriously? That question is central to a new book by Judge Jeffrey Sutton, 51 Imperfect Solutions, which explores the role that states, as independent sovereigns, potentially have as “laboratories of experimentation” for rights protection and constitutional interpretation.

In the words of Judge Sutton: “Why would we insist on one imperfect solution for the whole country rather than allowing for the possibility of 51 Imperfect Solutions initially?”

Hon. Jeffrey S. Sutton sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Judge Sutton was a partner with the law firm of Jones Day Reavis & Pogue in Columbus, Ohio, and served as State Solicitor of the State of Ohio. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (Ret.), the Honorable Antonin Scalia and the Honorable Thomas J. Meskill. He is the author of 51 Imperfect Solutions: States and the Making of American Constitutional Law.

As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

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