The Debate Over Antonin Scalia’s Replacement
By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK I can picture myself — if I were a modern high school student — trying to make sense of all the shouting between Republicans and Democrats over how to proceed with replacing the recently deceased Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. I think I would be asking myself what people think is so important about whether a Supreme Court Justice is an “originalist,” like Scalia, or an advocate of interpreting the Constitution as a “living document.” The teenage version of myself would be scratching his head over why this question would matter to anyone other than historians and constitutional law scholars. What difference would it make to the average citizen if President Obama gets to pick…Continue Reading