"The ultimate, and supreme "Binding Promise" is the United States Constitution."

The only problem with that single, clear, declarative sentence, Ken, is that there are two competing and ultimately unsatisfying interpretative schools, the biggest dilemma of contemporary constitutional jurisprudence: the conservative originalist tradition of "original public meaning" and the liberal or progressive tradition with its advocacy of a "living constitution" of evolving meaning.

The dilemma is a long way from being settled.