Constitution of the US

2nd Amendment

Thomas Jefferson

trivia

flag burning

progress

slavery

Founding Father

is a 'process' in that it is a document that changes by an amendment process set forth in the document itself.

GRAHAM: Do you believe the Constitution is a living, breathing, evolving document' SOTOMAYOR: The Constitution is a document that is immutable to the sense that it's lasted 200 years. The Constitution has not changed except by amendment. It is a process an amendment process that is set forth in the document. It doesn't live other than to be timeless by the expression of what it says. What changes is society. What changes is what facts a judge may get presented. . . .

is a living document only in that it is timeless by the expression of what it says while society and the facts a judge may get presented are in flux.

is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.

The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please. Thomas Jefferson

is a pantheon of values, remarkable in that it offers no simple rule of decision for the cases in which one of the values is truly at odds with another.

The Constitution is a pantheon of values, and a lot of hard cases are hard because the Constitution gives no simple rule of decision for the cases in which one of the values is truly at odds with another. David Souter

is a project of ongoing interpretation. The founding fathers intentionally made some passages vague and/or general because they expected that people who came along later would have an obligation to do their part in continuing the project.

Siegel co-edited the new book The Constitution in 2020 with Yale law professor Jack Balkin. Balkin argues that the Founding Fathers intentionally made some passages of the Constitution very specific such as the requirement that the president be at least 35 years old and other passages intentionally vague. 'They spoke in general terms because they expected that people who came along later would have to do their part,' Balkin says. 'They would have an obligation to continue the project.' Balkin describes that project of ongoing interpretation as true constitutional fidelity.

is a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means. The very essence of judicial duty it that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.

The constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. This is the very essence of judicial duty. John Marshall

is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.

[Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government. Patrick Henry

constitution of the US, n.All

constitution of the US