Can Originalism Be Moral?
Thanks to John Malcolm and the Heritage Foundation for publishing my 2024 Edwin Meese Lecture, "Can Originalism Be Moral?"" SUMMARY Originalism can be moral even if some individual provisions, as originally understood, fail to pass universal tests for morality. What matters is not the morality of the individual rules, but the morality of the system that makes those rules possible. The Constitution exists to protect the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, but that lofty purpose is not possible without the creation of the United States, which will then protect those natural rights. Even if the common good is the metric, natural law thinkers understood that there must be an effective, viable government to protect the common good, and that’s not possible without a constitution."
Owner at Mine
6 个月You're brilliant, Johnny! Maga MAFIA. https://www.courthousenews.com/robert-costellos-testimony-in-trumps-criminal-trial-was-a-disaster-experts-say/
Lawyer
6 个月I agree. The danger/folly of the more vaunted "living constitution" approach is that the intent of the wording is too easily manipulated. The intent must be difficult to alter, or (even good intentioned) people will try to do it, with unintended and unanticipated system wide consequences. This tends to corrupt the morality of the system as a whole. Ultimately, it prejudices the liberty we all cherish.
Analytic--Investor--Student
6 个月Prof. John Yoo, Esq. aloha. "Natural Law" interpretation mutating...?