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Justice Ginsburg: “I Would Not Look to the U.S. Constitution”
http://americafans.com ^ | July 8, 2018

Posted on 07/08/2018 12:45:51 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK

Justice Ginsburg: “I Would Not Look to the U.S. Constitution” Posted By Roger Aliman on July 3, 2018 Conservatives are often ridiculed for criticizing activist judges who fail to respect the Constitution. We are told that it is not conservative originalists (labeled ignorant and extremist) but rather enlightened liberal judges—with their nuanced understanding of constitutional penumbras—who truly respect the spirit of the Constitution

Conservatives, however, have good reason to be skeptical of the left’s “respect’’ for the Constitution. Just last week, for example, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told an Egyptian TV station that she would not recommend the U.S. Constitution as model for Egypt’s new government. The problem, you see, is that the U.S. Constitution is “a rather old constitution.” Ginsburg suggested that Egyptians should look instead to the Constitution of South Africa or perhaps the European Convention on Human Rights. All these are “much more recent than the U.S. Constitution.”

Ginsburg’s comments echo those by Washington University professor David Law, who published a study with Mila Versteeg on the U.S. Constitution’s declining infuence worldwide. In an interview, Law unfavorably compared the Constitution to “Windows 3.1”—outdated and unattractive in a world of sleek and sexy modern constitutions. Such obsession with the age of the Constitution is both absurd and irrelevant.

For one, the Constitution is still among the shortest and most elegantly written constitutions in the world. By contrast, South Africa’s constitution is well over 100 pages long, ×lled with tables, schedules, and such stirring passages as detailed provisions for a Financial and Fiscal Commission:

“A. National legislation referred to in subsection (1) must provide for the participation of – a. the Premiers in the compilation of a list envisaged in subsection (1) (b); and b. organized local government in the compilation of a list envisaged in subsection (1) (c).” And you thought the U.S. Constitution was hard to read. Equally ridiculous is the claim that the Constitution is too antiquated to apply to the modern world. The principles of the Constitution, although ×rst articulated centuries ago, are not tied to the material conditions of a bygone age. They rest on that most solid and enduring of all foundations: human nature.

The Constitution itself contains no policy prescriptions. Rather, it is a short, elegantly written document that create a framework for a free people to confront the political questions of their times. Of course, the real reason progressives swoon over South Africa’s constitution is that it goes far beyond merely establishing a framework for government and guarantees progressive policies—for example, by requiring legislation that prevents pollution and ecological degradation. In other words, the left’s real discontent with the U.S. Constitution is that it does not require Americans to adopt a progressive government and expansive welfare state that provides for every “right” social scientists can justify.

Americans should be very wary of those who would seek to upend the Constitution from the grounding in human nature that has allowed it to endure for more than two centuries and would transform it into an instrument devoted to policies of passing whimsy!


TOPICS: Education; History; Reference
KEYWORDS: rbg; rbgconstitution
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

For this very reason SCOTUS should not be a lifetime appointment.


61 posted on 07/08/2018 2:12:14 PM PDT by klimeckg
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

Except she didn’t say this “last week” but a few years ago, right? What’s the real date of this article?


62 posted on 07/08/2018 2:15:24 PM PDT by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victikms, and control freaks.)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

None of those liberal court judges use our Constitution - they go on their own feelings and what European courts do.


63 posted on 07/08/2018 2:16:26 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: Eddie01

Mike Lee?! That Never Trumper has zero chance of ever getting on the court. Besides ethics and financial issues in past few years, he was strongly recommended by Lyn’ Ted.


64 posted on 07/08/2018 2:19:11 PM PDT by Reno89519 (No Amnesty! No Catch-and-Release! Just Say No to All Illegal Aliens! Arrest & Deport!y)
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To: Eddie01

The best thing for her to do is resign from the court if she feels that way.


65 posted on 07/08/2018 2:21:08 PM PDT by virgil (The evil that men do lives after them)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
By any objective measure, the age of our Constitution should be a huge point in its favor.

A professional athlete who sets a record that's still on the books 100 years later is remembered as a sports legend. Breaking a record that was set six months ago, on the other hand, barely even makes headlines for one day.

66 posted on 07/08/2018 2:24:57 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's.")
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To: Reno89519

did you read the whole post?

My apologies for holding back the /sarc ‘til the end


67 posted on 07/08/2018 2:26:34 PM PDT by Eddie01
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To: Eddie01

No, too long, boring, repeat. Old news. But someone piling Mike Lee, that is worthy of a comment.


68 posted on 07/08/2018 2:30:42 PM PDT by Reno89519 (No Amnesty! No Catch-and-Release! Just Say No to All Illegal Aliens! Arrest & Deport!y)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

Can’t wait until she assumes room temperature.


69 posted on 07/08/2018 2:36:00 PM PDT by Ronald_Magnus
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To: BenLurkin

>>True, but she was young then. Still giving blowjobs under the bleachers.<<

I could have gone my whole life without that mental image.


70 posted on 07/08/2018 2:45:27 PM PDT by freedumb2003 ("please pass the winnamins" (/Principled on 6/27/2018))
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To: V K Lee

Which religion? Those which worship the God of our Founders and which do not have as part of its teaching the right or dity to repeal the Constitution and its government with its own laws. Hmm.


71 posted on 07/08/2018 2:45:49 PM PDT by amihow
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

This shows a deep problem in our republic. No one balance and check Supreme Court. They rule HOWEVER they feel


72 posted on 07/08/2018 2:54:37 PM PDT by Lee25 (D)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

other than death why can’t we get rid of these unconstitutional judges who go against their oaths of office


73 posted on 07/08/2018 2:56:29 PM PDT by morphing libertarian ( Build Kate's Wall)
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To: Reno89519

...pimping Mike Lee, not piling. Hate autocorrect on iPad.


74 posted on 07/08/2018 2:57:08 PM PDT by Reno89519 (No Amnesty! No Catch-and-Release! Just Say No to All Illegal Aliens! Arrest & Deport!y)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

bkmk


75 posted on 07/08/2018 2:58:11 PM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

She should quit, move to South Africa, and experience the way that things are there firsthand.


76 posted on 07/08/2018 3:18:02 PM PDT by Architect of Avalon
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To: Psalm 144

Of course the trendy set equate anything old with being obsolete.

Robert S. McNamara thought those nine old principles of war would not apply to his modern management plans for the Vietnam War. But the violation of those principles came with a terrible cost.

Ginsburg is not smart but she understands trends. “You don’t have to be a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing”.


77 posted on 07/08/2018 3:24:44 PM PDT by Monterrosa-24
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

But that’s your job, Ruthie.


78 posted on 07/08/2018 3:25:00 PM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

Proverbs 22:28

Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors. (NIV)

In this case, many many years of legal jurisprudence was swept aside to make room for the murder of babies (abortion). The boundary stone needs to be set back in place.


79 posted on 07/08/2018 3:33:35 PM PDT by taxcontrol (Stupid should hurt)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

I have to hand it to the GOP idiots that gave this Harpy the “thumbs-up”.


80 posted on 07/08/2018 3:38:26 PM PDT by windsorknot
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