Antonin Scalia defending the Constitution as a "legal text"

Grand Old Partisan reminisces about a great Supreme Court Justice. September 20th 2011, Antonin Scalia keynoted an event at the American Enterprise Institute. He denounced a doctrine, prevalent since the Warren Court, that the U.S. Constitution is merely a "collection of aspirations". There followed a spirited defense of the common-sense approach that the Constitution is a "legal text".

Justice Scalia went on to make an excellent point. If the Constitution is not a legal text, why then are judges the ones to interpret it? Judges, after all, trained to interpret legal texts, have no claim to greater wisdom than anyone else to opine on societal aspirations. He noted that in countries with constitutions that are not legal texts, the final arbiters of constitutionality are the legislatures, not the courts.

Back to Basics for the Republican Party asks how homeowners would react to a bank declaring their mortgage agreements to be, not legal texts, but "living, breathing documents that change with the times."

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Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.


Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Your book is a national treasure. I'm always recommending it."

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"

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