About The Daily Constitution

The Daily Constitution is an independent, nonpartisan publication about the Constitution of the United States. It exists to do two plain things: explain the document in ordinary language, and encourage the habit of reading the text itself a little at a time.

That is a narrower brief than it sounds. There is a great deal of writing about what the Constitution ought to mean and comparatively little that simply shows a reader what is in it, clause by clause, without an argument attached. This publication takes the second job.

The other half of the brief is the reason for the name. The document is short, roughly 4,500 words in its 1787 form and about 7,600 with all twenty-seven amendments, which puts reading the whole of it well within reach of anyone willing to spend ten minutes a day for a few weeks. Most people never do, and not because it is difficult. It is that nobody suggests a way in. Suggesting one is much of what this site is for.

What we publish

Reference pages covering the structure of the document, the Bill of Rights, the later amendments, the division of powers, and the methods courts use to read the text. A plain-language glossary of the terms that stop most readers. A daily reading plan that breaks the whole document into twenty-one short portions. A guide to the free, authoritative sources where the original texts live.

Everything is free to read and free to use in a classroom or a study group. Nothing is gated, nothing requires an account, and nothing is for sale.

Editorial standards

These are the rules the editors work to, and readers are welcome to hold us to them.

• Primary sources first. We cite the text, the official transcripts, and the courts' own opinions ahead of commentary. Where we summarize, we point to the source so you can check the summary against it.
• Competing readings, presented side by side. Many constitutional questions are genuinely disputed by serious people. Where that is so, we set out the main readings and attribute them fairly. We do not pick a winner, and we do not present a contested reading as settled.
• No advocacy. We take no position on parties, candidates, officeholders, movements, or policy questions, and we do not argue that the Constitution requires any particular outcome in a current controversy.
• Nothing for sale, nothing solicited. No products, no subscriptions, no memberships, no donations, no fundraising appeals, no petitions, no affiliate links.
• Corrections welcomed. See below.

Our page on constitutional interpretation is the clearest illustration of the second standard: it describes the main interpretive methods, including the objections each faces, without recommending one.

What this publication is not

This is an independent publication. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or speaking for any government body, court, agency, department, office, political party, campaign, or advocacy organization. Where we link to the Constitution Annotated, the National Archives, or the Supreme Court, that is citation, not association. Those institutions have no connection to this site and no responsibility for anything published here.

This publication is also not a law firm and does not practice law. Nothing here is legal advice. The pages on this site are general educational material about a historical and legal document. They are not advice about anyone's particular situation, they do not create any professional relationship, and they are no substitute for a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. If you have a legal problem, consult a lawyer.

Accuracy and corrections

We check the text of every clause we quote against an official transcript, and we prefer to write around a fact we cannot verify rather than state it loosely. Even so, errors get through.

If you find one, tell us. Factual corrections, misquoted language, broken links, and passages that mislead by omission are all worth reporting, and so is anything that reads as though it takes a side. Use the contact page. Corrections are made to the page itself.

Using our material

Teachers, homeschooling parents, librarians, discussion leaders, and study groups may reproduce anything here freely for their groups, in print or on screen, with or without changes. No permission is needed. Our page on using daily readings in classrooms and study groups sets out some session shapes that have worked.

The one request we make is a small one: wherever practical, put the actual text of the Constitution in front of people alongside whatever you take from us. Our writing is a way in. The document is the point.