Existing Evidence

This chapter reviews the existing body of evidence on constitutional rights effectiveness. Although the debate over whether constitutional rights change government behavior extends back at least to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, there is remarkably little empirical research that focuses specifically on this question. However, there are several academic literatures that are relevant to the topic. Because most legal scholars operate under the assumption that rights matter, it begins by very briefly reviewing some of the normative arguments for including rights. It then proceeds to discuss existing qualitative and quantitative studies on rights effectiveness. Finally, it discusses some of the core findings from a related literature on human rights treaty effectiveness.