The Founders did not believe that the Constitution would be changed over time by the courts, rather than the sovereign people through the Article V amendment process.https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1132086340202504198 …
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Specifically, the Founding Fathers had before them the British example of a living constitution without written constants. They chose, for very deliberate reasons, to write down the rules, first in the states and then for the federal government.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
This view does a huge disservice to the founders. What would “arms” mean 200 years later? “Property”? A “search”? The Constituon is full of words & concepts that indelibly change with time. Women and slaves were “property” when it (& the Declaration of Independence) were drafted.
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Replying to @MsDMcLaughlin
The 13th & 19th Amendments suggest how the Founders thought such things should be addressed.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
OK. That covers voting. Coveture laws existed until the 1920s. Notions of “search” and “seizure” continue to unfold in the digital age. What is an “unusual” punishment in 2019? Proponents of a living Constitution are at least intellectually honest about their end game.
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Replying to @MsDMcLaughlin
The 13th Amendment covers more than voting. I agree that a few provisions - eg, "unusual" punishment - look to social practice. Most of the document's structure assumes fixed written rules, to be changed the same way any written rules are changed.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
You’re right re the 13th. And yes, the age of a President or the functions of the branches was clearly articulated and not controversial. I’m more interested in the nuances of the Bill of Rights.
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There is a fundamental difference between "understand what the rules meant when written and apply them to new situations" and "rewrite the rules over time in lieu of leaving that job to the people's representatives." The Founders anticipated *technological* change.
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