opposed to historians history-a genuine effort to understand, in context, an earlier time. I will also suggest that, in interpreting the Constitution, the text of the document matters most for the questions that are least important. Finally, I will defend a version of Jefferson's view of majoritarianism: the idea is that a majoritys decision governs for a while but recedes as time passes Why Not sunset? Before doing so, it is worth considering Jeffersons own solution-that there should be an automatic sunset provision applied to all laws. In fact this solution only makes things worse. But at the same time it reveals two important things about the structure of the problem that Jefferson posed: it can be solved only by introducing an intertemporal element into interpretation, and that intertemporal element must be able to operate gradually over time The immediate difficulty with Jeffersons sunset solution is that it is hard to see how one can specify a non-arbitrary term of years for a provision to remain in effect. Jeffersons calculation that the magic period is 19 years is quite strange. But this difficulty is derivative of a deeper problem: What should the law revert to after a provision has expired? The law that existed before the provision was adopted is the product of an even earlier generation; there is, if anything, even less reason to impose that earlier law on the current generation. Ideally, after a provision expires, the law should become something that the current generation itself endorses. But how do we determine what that is? 88 opposed to historians’ history—a genuine effort to understand, in context, an earlier time. I will also suggest that, in interpreting the Constitution, the text of the document matters most for the questions that are least important. Finally, I will defend a version of Jefferson’s view of majoritarianism: the idea is that a majority’s decision governs for a while, but recedes as time passes. Why Not Sunset? Before doing so, it is worth considering Jefferson’s own solution—that there should be an automatic sunset provision applied to all laws. In fact this solution only makes things worse. But at the same time it reveals two important things about the structure of the problem that Jefferson posed: it can be solved only by introducing an intertemporal element into interpretation, and that intertemporal element must be able to operate gradually over time. The immediate difficulty with Jefferson’s sunset solution is that it is hard to see how one can specify a non-arbitrary term of years for a provision to remain in effect. Jefferson’s calculation that the magic period is 19 years is quite strange. But this difficulty is derivative of a deeper problem: What should the law revert to after a provision has expired? The law that existed before the provision was adopted is the product of an even earlier generation; there is, if anything, even less reason to impose that earlier law on the current generation. Ideally, after a provision expires, the law should become something that the current generation itself endorses. But how do we determine what that is?