This Article challenges the premise Congress must take such a passive approach to judicial review, expressing policy preferences in seriatim fashion (and being “sent back to the drawing board” each time a policy fails). This approach merely reflects institutional habits. And by failing to question these habits, reformers forfeit an enormous amount of legislative power.

Prof. Malbin’s article takes a different look at the debates concerning campaign finance reform and posits a “neo-Madisonian” take, urging reformers to take institutions seriously, while urging institutionalists to reach out to those left aside.