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To: tacticalogic
>>>>You're going to have a hard time laying claim to an "original intent" view of the Constitution while declaring the bulk of historical evidence as to that intent to be of no consequence.

I never claimed to be a member of the "original intent" club. Like J Scalia, I don't believe in original intent. Once on this thread I did associate myself with the term original intent. I misspoke. I do believe in the originalism of "strict constructionism". A strict constructionist believes judges should confine themselves to the clearly implied language of the Constitution.

602 posted on 11/07/2005 11:57:52 PM PST by Reagan Man (Secure our borders;punish employers who hire illegals;stop all welfare to illegals)
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To: Reagan Man
A strict constructionist believes judges should confine themselves to the clearly implied language of the Constitution.

I believe that that sort of "strict construcionism" soon gives rise to a purely textualist interpretation, where only the text of the document is considered.

Without the anchor of intent we are left with little more than a word game, where the enumerated powers of the federal government are limited only by the combinations of possible definitions we can find to assign the words.

607 posted on 11/08/2005 2:50:46 AM PST by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Reagan Man
Like J Scalia, I don't believe in original intent. Once on this thread I did associate myself with the term original intent. I misspoke. I do believe in the originalism of "strict constructionism". A strict constructionist believes judges should confine themselves to the clearly implied language of the Constitution.

SCALIA: "I have described for you my criterion for the meaning of The Constitution, which is what does the text say and what did that language; what was that language understood to mean when it was adopted? This is called originalism."

--http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/wl1997.htm

"The Constitution, when it comes before a court, should mean exactly what it was intended to mean when it was adopted, nothing more, nothing less," Scalia told a generally supportive audience of several hundred people at the George Bush Presidential Library.

-- http://bearcastle.com/blog/?p=264 (quoting Houston Chronicle, 5 May 2005 article)

619 posted on 11/08/2005 8:29:23 AM PST by Ken H
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