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February
19, 2007
VOL.
45, NO. 4Oakland,
CA
Justice Scalia
says Constitution is not
a living document for justices to rewrite
NEW ROCHELLE,
N.Y. (CNS) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that the
Constitution is not a living document and should not be rewritten each
year by the unelected justices of the Supreme Court.
Scalia delivered the opinion during an address last month at Iona College
in New Rochelle, where he is the Jack Rudin and John G. Driscoll distinguished
visiting professor for the spring semester.
Scalia, a Catholic, described himself as an “originalist,”
someone who sees the Constitution as a democratically adopted legal document
that does not change.
“It is that rock to which the republic is anchored,” he said.
“The Constitution says some things and doesn’t say others.
“If the Constitution does not speak to a matter, it’s for
the democratic process to provide an answer,” he said. “If
you want something, you persuade your fellow citizens that it’s
a good idea and pass a law.”
Scalia said that “over the past 40 or 50 years, the philosophy of
a living, or evolving, Constitution has become popular. It is enormously
seductive."
He rejected the idea, saying that the Constitution “is not an empty
bottle to be filled up by each generation.”
