About the Founding Fathers, Marshall in 1987 on the nation’s bicentennial wrote: “The government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, that we hold as fundamental today. Does this judicial doctrine apply when the judge is a “conservative” or a “strict constructionist” or an “originalist,” defined as one who believes in interpreting the law based on the words of the statute or of the Constitution? Associate Justice Elena Kagan has spoken of the importance of “public sentiment.” She said, “I’m not talking about any particular decision or even any particular series of decisions, but if over time the court loses all connection with the public and with public sentiment, that’s a dangerous thing for a democracy.” Kagan added, “Overall, the way the court retains its legitimacy and fosters public confidence is by acting like a court, is by doing the kinds of things that do not seem to people political or partisan.”
Author: Larry Elder
Published at: 2025-07-19 21:30:10
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