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How to Read the Constitution

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

The WSJ has this excerpt of Justice Clarence Thomas's lecture to the Manhattan Institute Friday. He notes the fundamental question of judicial review is "what restrains us from imposing our personal views and policy preferences on our fellow citizens under the guise of Constitutional interpretation?" Let me put it this way; there are really only two ways to interpret the Constitution -- try to discern as best we can what the framers intended or make it up. No matter how ingenious, imaginative or artfully put, unless interpretive methodologies are tied to the original intent of the framers, they have no more basis in the Constitution than the latest football scores. To be sure, even the most conscientious effort to adhere to the original intent of the framers of our Constitution is flawed, as all methodologies and human institutions are; but at least originalism has the advantage of being legitimate and, I might add, impartial.continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on October 20, 2008 (boomark / email).