ABSTRACT
Social and economic rights that are in some sense constitutionally binding are of the essence of democracy'. A compelling idea of Social and economic rights (SER), one that is experienced as non-rejectable by those to whom it occurs, might exert a metamorphic pressure on received valuations and notions of constitutionalism, rights, and adjudication held by liberals and strong democrats respectively. A standard for state exertion toward social and economic targets may thus, within limits, be made sensitive to claims from competing values, and still meet one's book's conception of a social and economic right. The very idea of a constitutionally binding requirement implies a discursively cogent standard of compliance. Legitimacy sets a minimum public standard for a constitution's adequacy to authorize morally a civic demand for regular compliance by citizens with the laws and policies that issue from it.
