A Matter of Originalism
One thing is becoming clear in the early rounds of questioning at Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing: Judge Sotomayor appears to insist that her past words be interpreted according to her original intent. I wonder if she would insist that the words written in the Constitution be interpreted accordingly?
My answer is the same as your implicit one, not a chance.
I suspect her constitutional interpretation will follow the same guidelines she is using to explain her previous statements: old words mean what I want them to mean in reference to present circumstances.
She is interpreting her prior statements in a way it takes to get her to her ultimate goal – confirmation. Likewise, she will interpret the constitution in whatever way is necessary to achieve the ends she desires for a particular case.
[...] Southern Appeal: One thing is becoming clear in the early rounds of questioning at Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation [...]
I should think the Senate Republicans would reply that they are (properly) interpreting SS’s public utterances according to their original public meaning.
Original intent originalism went out with Whitesnake T-shirts.
“Original intent originalism”…that’s got to be redundantly repetitive. Nevertheless, I would wager it was out, at the very least, with Doobie Brothers t-shirts.
[...] month, I pointed out an interesting aspect of Judge (and soon to be Justice) Sotomayor’s defense to her statement that [...]
[...] month, I pointed out an interesting aspect of Judge (and soon to be Justice) Sotomayor’s defense to her statement that [...]