Dworkin's Incomplete Interpretation of Democracy

This essay mounts an immanent critique of Dworkin’s defense of judicial review. Taking Dworkin’s methodology of constructive interpretation as my starting point, I argue that when analyzing the role that political institutions play in democracy, Dworkin fails to take his own method far enough. In particular, he limits his constructive interpretation of democracy to the practice of voting, overlooking the distinctive democratic values implicit within the institutions and practices of legislation by representative assembly. Ironically, given his well-known critique of majoritarian democracy, this failure leads Dworkin to adopt majoritarianism as a starting point when assessing particular institutions. A more thoroughgoing interpretation of democratic practices would identify certain nonmajoritarian virtues of legislatures, making the case for judicial review less clear-cut than Dworkin’s incomplete interpretation suggests.