for a judicial body, the U.S. Supreme Court, to interpret the meaning of and application of the Constitution. Over the course of the last two centuries, the Supreme Court has made numerous interpretations and reinterpretations of the Constitution, with the philosophy of the judges tending between two poles. On the one hand is a belief in the meaning placed in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers, a meaning often referred to as "original intent." Under this doctrine, cases are to be decided based on what the Founding Fathers meant at the time of the writing of the Constitution. An opposite view would hold that the interpretation of the Constitution should be made more on the basis of present circumstances and needs. This second approach need not ignore original intent, but it does not give it the same weight as the more conservative judges. These are the two poles over which many of the recent arguments con
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