How The Ruinous "Living Constitution" Idea Took Root

Forbes ^ | July 15, 2014 | George Leef

[reaganaut1]

The “living Constitution” theory amounts to saying that Supreme Court justices should be allowed to rewrite the foundation of our government as they see fit, sometimes adding ideas that weren’t included, sometimes ignoring ideas that were.

Mostly, “living Constitution” decisions entail the latter, turning a blind eye to the document’s clear limits on governmental power.

From their experience with the British crown, the Founders had a deep fear of government and sought to keep its authority strictly limited. But their philosophy on the proper scope of government conflicts with the views of Americans who believe that ever-expanding state power is the key to a good society. For them, the real Constitution is an obstacle to their goals — hence the need for a pretty euphemism – “living Constitution” to cover up their undermining of the rule of law.

Where did this ruinous idea come from? When and how did it arise? My supposition had always been that it was a creation of the “progressives” in our legal system early in the last century, exemplified by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and liberal intellectuals who favored FDR’s vast expansion of federal authority.

That view is not exactly right, argues John Compton, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Chapman University, in his new book The Evangelical Origins of the Living Constitution. Compton contends that the “living Constitution” idea arose much earlier in our history, an outgrowth the moral reform movement that swept across the United States from the 1820s until the early decades of the 20th century.

[x]

Questionable history to say the least. Before the New Deal and the "stream of commerce" idea became fashionable, most people probably recognized that a state could regulate drinking or lotteries within its own borders.

I maybe be wrong, but my understanding is the fact that you could take a lottery ticket or a hip flask across state lines wouldn't have made either lotteries or alcohol production "interstate commerce" in those days. So far as I can see, no "living Constitution" would have been required to allow for state regulation of such activities in those days.

[Star Traveler]

Don’t worry, if he thinks that some of these Christians weakened the Constitution ... just wait until Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, gets here ... He’s going to absolutely DESTROY the Constitution!