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Justice Scalia Originalism

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Distinguished by the clarity of his constitutional vision and his dedication to fighting for textualism and originalism, former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is regarded as one of the most influential justices of the twentieth century. In his A Matter of Interpretation, Scalia asserts himself as a textualist, meaning that he interprets a text as it is written, neither more nor less (Scalia, 23). Likewise, this idea of textualism and originalism is one that asserts the Constitution means no more, or less, than what it meant to those who originally authored and established it. This originalist approach to constitutional interpretation is the opposite of the modern and more liberal approach, which is commonly referred to as the “living …show more content…

Rather, the United States’ judicial system should remain impartial and consistent while interpreting the laws as they are written. Also, the Constitution is not an optional document to reference, rather, it is our nation’s original rule book by which the judicial system should base its decisions and interpretations on. As one of the most influential and transformative justices of his time, Justice Scalia’s vision for the Constitution included that of which it is to nail things down so they would last. Although our nation is constantly changing, the Constitution must remain the foundation of our existence as a sovereign nation, and the document itself must not be loosely interpreted and disregarded by flawed and power-hungry justices. To maintain the integrity of our judicial system and maintain a prosperous future for America, it is important we follow Justice Scalia’s vision and leave the Constitution as it was when it was first adopted, while also not repeatedly ignoring and broadly misinterpreting its

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