01:790:106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer, Consequentialism
19 Feb 2018
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Words of the constitution can be ambiguous. Police can"t make you give up password. Not helpful, because words are subject to multiple interpretations. Most words in the constitution are symbolic, not literal. By the intent and purpose of the framers. Do the federalist papers help? (federalist papers are a collection of essays that framers wrote to convince people in new york to ratify the. Only tells us the intent of 3 of the framers. Based on what the words meant at the time the constitution was made. Court"s job is to give the meaning it has when it was adapted by the people. Justice scalia was proponent of original meaning method. The constitution created a democracy, in which legislators, not judges, should make the law. Otherwise, judges make decisions based on their subjective beliefs. Language, history, tradition and precedent are enough for most cases.
