Judge Stephen Reinhardt writes in a letter to the editor in the November Harper’s: “There is indeed a constitutional philosophy that is preferable to minimalism or fundamentalism: it’s called liberalism.” I’m surprised at this blatant admission of an activist judicial philosophy, even from a judge on the notorious 9th Circuit. Originalism has become a euphemism for crypto fascism, and “living document” liberalism for rejection of the most important constitutional principles. I’m not sure a real originalist and a real liberal would judge cases differently, nor that we’d any longer recognize either, if one actually made it to the bench.
