Reflections on Unenumerated Rights

The Papers in this Symposium serve up a savory blend of inquiries into the epistemology, the politics, and what might be called the "genealogy" of "unenumerated rights" discourse in constitutional thought and history. Its stimulating offerings present an enticing smorgasbord, prepared with impressive skill. Only a boorish guest would quibble over this chef's choice of recipe or that chef's choice of presentation. Of greater interest to me than the particulars of the cuisine on display are the seemingly shared premises and broad conclusions of its creators. They seem, by and large, to agree that they are engaged in a quest for substances as elusive as manna, and they appear, on the whole, to have decided that the objects of their assigned search have an awkward attribute in common: they don't really exist.