Constitutional Law
Jul. 31, 2012
Judicial philosophies collide in Williams
The decision in Williams and the cases leading up to it vividly illustrate the clash -- and, curiously, the overlap -- between these competing philosophies.
2nd Appellate District, Division 2
Brian M. Hoffstadt
Associate Justice, California Court of Appeal
UCLA School of Law, 1995
At just 4,440 words (7,800 with the Amendments), our federal Constitution functions, as Chief Justice John Marshall put it, as a "great outline[]." McCulloch v. Maryland (1803) 17 U.S. 316, 407. Since 1803, however, the justices have divided over how to go about the task of adding flesh to this outline, and have largely fallen into two camps: The "originalists," who adhere to the view that the Constitution should derive its meaning from (and be limited by) the Framers' inten...
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