State Constitutions Illustrated

State Constitutions Illustrated was developed under the editorial guidance of Jefri Jay Ruchti. Named for John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Ruchti was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1949. He attended the University of Wisconsin, as had his grandfather, father, and brother, and also attended the University of Chicago. Ruchti began actively collecting the texts of historical and current constitutions in 1984, becoming an editor and translator under the mentorship of Gisbert H. Flanz (1916-2015), founding editor of Constitutions of the Countries of the World.

In addition to his academic work with constitutions, Ruchti has pursued an independent career as an artist, working primarily in dry media on Japanese paper, exhibiting his work widely in the United States. He lives with his wife, Leigh Whiteman, in Guilford, Connecticut.