This paper take strong issue with Ferrara’s attempt to deactivate the paradox of constituent power, an attempt which fails because based on a metaphysics of presence incapable of giving adequate account of the obligations we owe to future generations. Drawing on the work of Fer-dinando Menga, I argue that the alternative to this failed attempt is a theory of constituent power in the accusative in which (higher) lawmaking responds to an obligation that reaches us from future generations.
