By one of those little chances of fate I had just finished reading passages of James Madison on how the multiplication of factions, interests, states, and even departments of the federal government would preserve liberty and justice in a constitutional republic by checking each others’ passions and interests, when I turned on the television and saw the Supreme Court’s decision to recognize a fundamental right to same-sex marriage.

Watching Madison add one faction to another and one interest to another in a pyramid of balance had been rather like watching a skilled conjuror slowly build up a house of cards — and then the door opened and the Supreme Court (or a draft) simply swept it aside.

I have not yet had a chance to read the judgments. Until I do, however, I will have to make the provisional judgment that the best critical verdict on the U.S. Constitution was delivered over a century ago by Britain’s Lord Bryce:

“All sail, no anchor.”