A Multifaceted Approach To Constitutional Interpretation
The Constitution of the United States of America is the founding document of our nation. People look towards the Constitution to see how our government should function. Several passages in the Constitution leave little debate for how things should be. For example, the Constitution clearly establishes three separate branches of government. However, the responsibilities and limitations of these branches are open to debate. For instance, was the president given the power to use military force without Congress declaring war? Other debates center on the "establishment clause" in the first amendment. Was it intended to create a "wall of separation" between church and state in the famous words of Thomas Jefferson , or was it intended to disallow government from showing favoritism towards any particular religion as holds the view of "non-preferentialists?" Furthermore, one could interpret it as saying that it only guarantees neutrality between Christian sects but not between religion and non-religion, as is the view of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. The fact is there are quite a number of ways to interpret the constitution. The question then becomes "How do we do that?"
Several options are available for interpreting the Constitution, but none seem to stir as much debate as interpreting according to "original intent". In 1985, Attorney General Edwin Meese III stirred much debate with his call for "jurisprudence of original intent." Meese, like many other conservatives, believed that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the "original intent" of the framers as they are "the only reliable guide for judgment" . Meese saw several problems with the way the judiciary interpreted the Constitution. One of these was the concept of federalism, which Meese says was a basic principle of the Constitution. He believed the framers intended to allow states "sufficient sovereignty to govern" Our current federal government has infringed many of these basic...
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