 For West, the normative deficiency of the standard idea is on display in the Supreme Court’s rulings regarding education and employment. The court has ruled that there are constitutional rights against being denied an educational or employment opportunity on grounds of race or sex but has failed to recognize any categorical constitutional right to education or employment (204–212). The court has even failed to recognize a categorical civil right to police protection. West regards those failures as reflections of the standard idea and its radically truncated conception of “the duty the state takes on, when we enter a social compact” (66).