Meese Protects Constitution from Judges

Notice: Most of this post is opinion!

Now that there is another Supreme Court vacancy, we hear a lot about both parties' preferences. The President prefers a justice with empathy. Conservatives usually look for a judge who in not looking to find new meaning in laws, but will simply interpret what is in the law, which may make empathy a secondary concern.

The first time in our history that I usually point to where the court took on extra power was when they suddenly found meanings in the First Amendment that the Founding Fathers did not seem to see themselves. This was the 1947 Everson decision, which is when courts started using a metaphor Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter in place of the actual words of the First Amendment.

The courts became much more active in the 1960's, again overturning decisions and laws that had stood for decades and decades. Some of those new tendencies resulted in good results, but many others did not. And I feel the worst part by far is that our Congress was made a weaker arm of government than the court.

There is a good (opinion) piece on World Net Daily, which discussed the role Ed Meese played in helping to restore some respect for "original intent" to the court. He was especially intent on pointing out these principles in our religious freedom (hence, the relationship to this blog in general).

THE AMERICAN SPIRIT
Ed Meese hailed for defending freedom
Reagan attorney general rescued Constitution from activist judges