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Constitutional interpretation

Constitutional Law

Cleveland State University

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Originalism's Promise, And Its Limits - Symposium: History And Meaning Of The Constitution, Lee J. Strang Jan 2014

Originalism's Promise, And Its Limits - Symposium: History And Meaning Of The Constitution, Lee J. Strang

Cleveland State Law Review

At the same time, I believe, originalism’s promise remains. Originalism’s promise is three-fold. First, originalism promises that it can paint constitutional interpretation in the most normatively attractive light. Not ideal results. Instead—on balance and systemically—normatively more attractive results than its competitors. Second, originalism promises that constitutional interpretation can fit the key facets of our Constitution. These key facets include, for example, the Constitution’s writtenness and its particular origins, facets that originalism better fits than alternative methods of constitutional interpretation. Third, originalism promises that constitutional interpretation can respect judges’ capacities. Judges’ pivotal role necessitates that interpretative methodologies work with their capacities, …


Book Review: Court-Packing And Legal Creation - Symposium: History And Meaning Of The Constitution, Sheldon Gelman Jan 2014

Book Review: Court-Packing And Legal Creation - Symposium: History And Meaning Of The Constitution, Sheldon Gelman

Cleveland State Law Review

Review of FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle over the New Deal by James F. Simon. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2012


Liberal Originalism: The Declaration Of Independence And Constitutional Interpretation - Symposium: History And Meaning Of The Constitution, Scott D. Gerber Jan 2014

Liberal Originalism: The Declaration Of Independence And Constitutional Interpretation - Symposium: History And Meaning Of The Constitution, Scott D. Gerber

Cleveland State Law Review

In my work I have labeled the dominant iterations of originalism “conservative originalism.” It is an approach that dictates that judges may legitimately recognize only those rights specifically mentioned in the Constitution, or ascertainably implicit in its structure or history. In all other cases, conservative originalists argue, the majority is entitled to govern—to make moral choices—through the political process. “Liberal originalism,” by contrast, maintains that the Constitution should be interpreted in light of the political philosophy of the Declaration of Independence. Liberal originalism rejects both conservative originalism and the notion of a living constitution on the ground that they are …


History In Law, Mythmaking, And Constitutional Legitimacy - Symposium: History And Meaning Of The Constitution, Patrick J. Charles Jan 2014

History In Law, Mythmaking, And Constitutional Legitimacy - Symposium: History And Meaning Of The Constitution, Patrick J. Charles

Cleveland State Law Review

What truly separates an historical inquiry, however, from an originalist inquiry is the degree by which myth consumes fact. Certainly, regardless of whether one is performing an historical or originalist inquiry, the methodological process takes part in generating myth. In terms of where the respective inquiries are to be placed on the spectrum of constitutional mythmaking, however, the standard historical inquiry is far less likely to engage in the process than its originalist counterpart. This is mainly because originalism is not so much about reasoning from known historical truths, but instead about recreating a hypothetical expected legal application of how …


I Am Textualism , Stephen Durden Jan 2011

I Am Textualism , Stephen Durden

Cleveland State Law Review

Until every person seeking to interpret the Constitution recognizes that constitutional interpretation is a quintessentially human endeavor, based on human assumptions and human reasoning, I will remain to protect those who seek to hide their predilections, their personal choices. I will continue to change as time passes. My form will continue to change to meet the needs of those who seek my cloak of objectivity and seek to redefine and improve me. I am a human invention created to pretend that constitutional interpretation is not a human endeavor. I am what each disciple wants. I am what each disciple needs. …


The Struggle Over The Past, Robert W. Gordon Jan 1996

The Struggle Over The Past, Robert W. Gordon

Cleveland State Law Review

History supplies a set of basic ground rules; the "traditional principles of the common law," from which much modem law, both judge-made and statutory law, is seen as having improperly deviated. As the New Right ideology spreads among elite decision-makers and intellectuals, it poses a serious challenge to the Progressive-liberal consensus about the legal meanings of history that had previously dominated American legal thought for a very long time. The historical claims of New Right ideology in particular have touched off a number of fierce debates among Old (Progressive) Liberal, New Right, and radical legal intellectuals. In Section II, the …