Rights and the Ideal Constitution

Jonathan Sumption, formerly one of England and Wales’s most senior judges sitting in the UK’s Supreme Court, assesses the US and UK’s constitutional models.

The British (unwritten) constitution is, or was, a political constitution. In America, they have to address political questions – eg the right to abortion – via the courts, rather than via politics. Britain should learn from the US' example to be careful about which rights should be put beyond democratic choice.

The programme is recorded at George Washington University, Washington DC, in front of an audience. The Reith Lectures are presented and chaired by Anita Anand. A version for television of the programme first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 11 June.