Book Excerpt: 'Our Lost Constitution' by Sen. Mike Lee

Sen. Mike Lee discusses his new book on "This Week."

ByABC News
April 11, 2015, 7:32 PM
Our Lost Constitution by Senator Mike Lee
Our Lost Constitution by Senator Mike Lee
Courtesy Mike Lee/Sentinel, Penguin Publishing Group

— -- Sen. Mike Lee discusses his new book on "This Week" Sunday.

Reprinted from Our Lost Constitution by Senator Mike Lee with permission of Sentinel, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright (c) Mike Lee, 2015.

Introduction:

My love for the U.S. Constitution took root in my earlyyears. From the time I was a young child, my parents taught meabout the separation of powers, checks and balances, due process,equal protection, and the limited role of our federal government. Itnever really occurred to me that I was being taught about the Constitution; these were just conversations we had from time to timearound the dinner table, in the car, and whenever the subject of government happened to arise. Before long, I learned what it meant tobe an appellate lawyer because every time my siblings or I woulddisagree with our parents’ decisions about bedtimes or chores or allowances, they would say, “Make your case. You’re probably notgoing to win, but we’ll listen.”

When I was about ten years old, I started routinely accompanyingmy dad whenever he argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.As kind and wise a man as I’ve ever known, he was the foundingdean of BYU’s law school, and in 1981 he became the solicitor gen-eral of the United States, the federal government’s chief advocatebefore the Supreme Court. I’d watch with bated breath as the black-robed justices fired questions at him. He had a way of answeringtheir questions in a manner that was not only responsive but alsocarefully calculated to advance his case. The verbal jousting I sawbetween lawyers and justices wasn’t quite as raucous as the debatesat our dinner table, but after the oral argument ended, my dad wouldbe so excited that he reminded me of a giddy child on a sugar high.