An earlier essay treated judicial review as a cornerstone. This one makes the case against it, the real argument, anchored in Alexander Bickel's counter-majoritarian difficulty: that unelected, life-tenured judges overruling elected legislatures is not obviously compatible with self-government. A citizen is better off knowing the strongest case against a power, even one they support.

Field Notes on the Republic was written and read by Michael Fowler. It was produced for Quorum (Supply Co.), an American civic purveyor. Music is "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," performed by the U.S. Military Academy Band, West Point.