"A constitution," said Napoleon, "should be short and obscure." The drafters of the United States Constitution agreed. Both the original document of 1787 and its key amendments are notoriously so. What is the "executive power" which is vested in the president? Do his powers as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" extend to civilian functions? What constitutes the "commerce" among the states that Congress may regulate? What constitutes an "establishment" of religion? What are the elements of the "liberty" and "property" which may not be deprived without "due process?" Who are the "persons" who may not be deprived of them, and what "process" is "due" in depriving them? What protection of the law is "equal," and what persons and relations are alike for purposes of equality? Untold amounts of time, ink, and on one occasion blood, have been devoted to these conundrums. They are today the subject of vehement political controversy, not least on the issue of whether any element of human sexuality is to be counted as part of the liberty and equality protected by the Fourteenth Amendment against interference by state governments.