Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Thomas Jefferson's Directive to Constitutional "Originalists" Like Antonin Scalia

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia - who it would seem is working hard to become the Court's most notable buffoon - likes to claim that he is a "Constitutional originalist" as a justification for his Neanderthal like backwardness and resistance to acceptance of a changing nation and changing levels of knowledge.  What's a Constitutional originalist?  It is someone who claims that the Constitution is not subject to changing interpretations and can only be construed in the context of the  knowledge known to the Founding Fathers when the Constitution was written.  Interestingly enough, Thomas Jefferson apparently foresaw bigots like Scalia when he wrote the following in a letter written to Samuel Kercheval in 1816, had this to say about the law and human progress:
I am certainly not an advocate for for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.
Obviously, the foregoing passage cuts Scalia's argument off at the knees, but I doubt Scalia can overcome his own arrogance and bigotry to accept the views of one of America's most illustrious Founding Fathers.   The man truly needs to be removed from the Supreme Court.

1 comment:

Stephen said...

After voting to intervene and put W in the White House, Scalia has zero credibility as being committed to original intent. His Opus Dei (perhaps Catholic but not Christian) agenda is also incompatible with the intentions of the Founding Fathers.