This book is about constitutions and democratic politics. The increasingly dominant view is that constitutions enshrine and secure the rights central to a democratic society. This approach defines a constitution as a written document, superior to ordinary legislation and entrenched against legislative change, justiciable and constitutive of the legal and political system. It contends that a constitution of this kind, not participation in democratic politics per se, offers the basis for citizens to be treated in a democratic way as deserving of equal concern and respect. The electorate and politicians may engage in a democratic process, but they do not always embrace democratic values. The defence of these belongs to the constitution and its judicial guardians. As Cherie Booth, the barrister wife of the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, neatly put it: ‘In a human rights world … responsibility for a value-based substantive commitment to democracy rests in large part on judges … [J]udges in constitutional democracies are set aside as the guardians of individual rights … [and] afforded the opportunity and duty to do justice for all citizens by reliance on universal standards of decency and humaneness … in a way that teaches citizens and government about the ethical responsibilities of being participants in a true democracy.’

That the wife of a democratically elected political leader should express such a condescending view of democratic politics may be a little surprising, but it all too accurately reflects the prevailing opinion among legal constitutionalists.