Judicial Interpretation of the Law

In speeches delivered on different days in 1985, United States Attorney General Edwin Meese and United States Supreme Court Associate Justice william Brennan offered differing views on textual interpretation of the Constitution, with Meese calling for a doctrine of original intent and with Brennan suggesting a different rationale. Each suggests what they believe the proper role should be for judges in interpreting the law and each shows a particular regard for the power of the Constitution as a guide to legal interpretation. Meese approaches the subject in terms of the approach taken by the Reagan administration to constitutional interpretation, and Meese was a member of that administration. Brennan approaches the topic as one who has actually had to make these decisions on the Supreme Court.

Each indeed begins with a consideration of the Constitution as a text, and Brennan calls the Constitution "the lodestar for our aspirations" (Brennan, 1985, 2). Brennan calls the Constitution "a public text" (Brennan, 1985, 3) which is applied by the Supreme Court to resolve public controversies. He notes that Americans have the habit of trying to resolve social, economic, philosophical, and political questions in the form of lawsuits, and many such arguments arrive at the Supreme Court for final adjudication. Brennan says that constitutional interpretation for a federal judge is obligatory. In addition, there are consequences for every judicial decision, bringing the coercive po

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Category: Government - J