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If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again. You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That’s flexibility.

Antonin Scalia

Persuade your fellow citizens it’s a good idea and pass a law. That’s what democracy is all about. It’s not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.
ANTONIN SCALIA

Citizenship Demand Goodness Ideas Judgement Society Yourself
The Constitution does not trust judges to make determinations of criminal guilt.
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Criminal Determination Guilty Judgement Trust
A journalistic purpose could be someone with a Xerox machine in a basement.
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Basement Journey Machine Purpose
The purpose of the Federalist Society was to bring together young people who had this skepticism about what they were being taught and to let them know that there were others who shared this skepticism.
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Purpose Share Society Teaching
It would be gross understatement to say that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is not a model of clarity. It is in many important respects a model of ambiguity or indeed even self-contradiction.
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Ambience Contradiction Model Respect Statement
Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.
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Allow Constitution Discrimination Rule Sex
A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable.
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Close Search Table
The wise do not investigate such silliness.
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Investigation Silly Weird Wisdom
To many Americans, everything from the Easter morning to the Ascension had to be made up by the groveling enthusiasts as part of their plan to get themselves martyred.
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Death Morning Planning
Campaign promises are – by long democratic tradition – the least binding form of human commitment.
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Commitment Democracy Human Promise Tradition
The principal purpose of stare decisis is to protect reliance interest and further stability in the law.
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Interest Law Principle Protection Stability State
To be honest about it, that is the view of Christians taken by modern society. Surely those who adhere to all or most of these traditional Christian beliefs are to be regarded as simpleminded.
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Belief Honesty Regard Simplicity Traditional
Words no longer have meaning if an Exchange that is not established by a State is “established by the State”.
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Establishment Meaning State Word
Why can’t the state accede to the public’s wishes?
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Public State Wish
In the eyes of government we are just one race here. It is American.
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Eyes Government Oneself Race
As long as judges tinker with the Constitution to ‘do what the people want,’ instead of what the document actually commands, politicians who pick and confirm new federal judges will naturally want only those who agree with them politically.
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Agreement Confirmation Constitution Document Judgement Politics Thinking
I even accept for the sake of argument that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged.
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Acceptance Argument Encouragement Myself Sexuality
On this day, when we’re celebrating our constitutional heritage, I urge you to be faithful to that heritage – to impose on our fellow citizens only the restrictions that are there in the Constitution, not invent new ones, not to invent the right because it’s a good idea.
ANTONIN SCALIA

Celebration Constitution Day Faith Goodness Ideas Invention Restriction
Under all the usual rules of interpretation, in short, the Government should lose this case. But normal rules of interpretation seem always to yield to the overriding principle of the present Court: The Affordable Care Act must be saved.
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Act Case Lose Myself Principle Rule Save Short
In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it’s not perfect, that’s okay, there are a lot more coming along.
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Children Family Kind Perfection
[If critics of the Pledge of Allegiance persuaded the public it should be changed] then we could eliminate under God from the Pledge of Allegiance, that could be democratically done.
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Change Democracy Elimination God
It is difficult to maintain the illusion that we are interpreting a Constitution, rather than inventing one.
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Constitution Difficult Illusion Invention Maintain Oneself
[International law] doesn’t show what the Constitution originally meant, and it doesn’t show what is fundamentally important to Americans today. It shows what’s fundamentally important to somebody else today.
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Constitution Day Fundamental Important Meaning Original
Interior decorating is a rock-hard science compared to psychology practiced by amateurs.
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Amateuer Decoration Practice Science
What is a moderate interpretation of the text? Halfway between what it really means and what you’d like it to mean?
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Literature Meaning Yourself
You could have 50 different states having 50 different regulations until they were all litigated out.
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Different Regulation State Yourself
The right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children is among the unalienable rights with which the Declaration of Independence proclaims ‘all Men are endowed by their Creator.’
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Children Creation Independence Parents Right

If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again. You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That’s flexibility.

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Popular Authors

If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again. You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That’s flexibility.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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