Walter F. Murphy

McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Emeritus

1533 Eagle Ridge Drive, NE, Albuquer
wmurphy37@comcast.net
phone: 505-858-0462 ; fax: 505-828-3587
C.V.

Walter F. Murphy, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at Princeton University, is among the most distinguished constitutional scholars of the 20th century. A decade after joining the Princeton faculty, he was named the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, succeeding Woodrow Wilson, Edward S. Corwin and Alpheus T. Mason in one of the nation's most prestigious endowed chairs. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association, Law and Courts Section, and the Chicago Foundation for Literature Award in 1980 for his novel, The Vicar of Christ. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a senior fellow of the Italian Academy for Advanced Study in America. He is the author of Wiretapping on Trial, Elements of Judicial Strategy, and Congress and the Court, as well as works of fiction exploring important political and religious themes, including Upon This Rock: The Life of St. Peter and The Roman Enigma. He earned a Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Cross, three Battle Stars, and a Presidential Unit Citation for his service in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. Professor Murphy earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

Publications
Constitutional Democracy: Creating and Maintaining a Just Political Order by Walter F. Murphy
The Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought
(The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006)

Constitutional democracy is a political hybrid, the product of an uneasy union between, on the one hand, the normative theories of constitutionalism and democracy and, on the other, the desire to live under what James Madison called "free government." In this engaging and provocative work, Walter F. Murphy combines a lifetime's study of constitutions and democracy with traditional storytelling to answer fundamental questions about constitutional democracy: How is it created? How is it maintained? How can it be adapted to changing circumstances? Murphy begins with a definitional section on constitutions, constitutional texts, constitutionalism, and democracy. Next, he tells the story of how a democracy is established within the context of a fictional constitutional convention for a fictional country. He follows delegates--many of whose arguments track those of real-life political, economic, and legal theorists--as they debate and draft the components of a constitution. Here, the reader comes to understand and appreciate the components of a constitutional text and the contingency and potential of the constitution-making process. Murphy then offers an expository analysis of constitutional maintenance, adaptation, and, essentially, constitutional change.