Mr. Barnett is professor of legal theory at Georgetown Law School and the author of "Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty" (Princeton University, 2005).

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Also soon after the elections, in theory, comes the writing of a permanent constitution, to be endorsed in a referendum.

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Also soon after the elections, in theory, comes the writing of the permanent constitution, to be endorsed in a referendum.

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In theory, the question of who becomes president of the commission and what happens to the constitution are entirely separate.

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Thus, a dog may sniff your bag at the airport (and elsewhere) without implicating the Constitution, on the theory that the dog only alerts in the presence of contraband.

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