If you want to understand the current Supreme Court’s turn toward orjginalism or textualism, this is the book for you, written by retired Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer. I listened to the audiobook read by the author and he seems to be at the top of his game. Perhaps a little too detailed in some places—I know more than I ever wanted to know about defining pollution of navigable waters—Breyer musters much evidence to demonstrate that understanding legislative history and thinking about purposes and consequences of laws—what Breyer calls “pragmatism”—are as legitimate as judicial methods as textualism, and perhaps more humane and salutary for our republic. More than that, he demonstrates that originalism is in no way more “scientific” or stable as a judicial methodology, as decisions this term have already demonstrated (and which Justice Breyer) could not have anticipated. I found the chapters on “The Limits of Constitutional Textualism” and “Legal Stability: Stare Decisis” the most telling and the most informative for me. Although it was tough going in some sections, I am so glad I read this important book and I wish the sitting justices would.