February 22, 2017 3:55PM # The Personal History Behind Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies By [Roger Pilon](https://www.cato.org/people/roger-pilon) --- SHARE As we approach Cato’s 40th anniversary, if you’re interested in knowing a little more about the origin and history of Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies, which I founded 28 years ago, take a look at Mimesis Law’s lengthy [interview of me](https://web.archive.org/web/20210902193232/http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/cross-roger-pilon-defending-liberty-cato/16364) that they posted just this morning. A year ago [they interviewed Wally Olson](https://web.archive.org/web/20210723150712/http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/cross-walter-olson-a-good-lawyers-best-friend/6291), who put them on my trail. This morning’s interview is actually more of a “life story”—from a boyhood in rural America, trapping muskrats and beaver and starting my school’s first rock-‘n’-roll band, through the twists and turns that brought me to today and the center. But in the course of telling the tale I discuss the intellectual history that led to the center’s creation and informed its mission And along the way I discuss some of the issues we’re still wrestling with. At the least, you’ll get a few laughs! ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).