Scalia defends the originalist interpretation of the Constitution over Breyer’s living Constitution.

Today in the U.S. Senate Justices Breyer and Scalia testified to the Judiciary committee on the role of judges in the U.S. Constitution. If you are interested in our Federal Judiciary, the role of judges, and a pretty good insight into the difference between justices who believe in an originalists interpretation vs. a living constitution interpretation, it is well worth a trip over to C-SPAN to watch the entire hearing which runs a little over two hours. To offer a little taste here I have a clip of Scalia, who is of course a self-proclaimed originalists, rebutting Breyers argument that the Constitution is a living document and the danger of the originalists mindset is rigidity and inflexibility. Scalia cites the decision in NY Times vs Sullivan in which a majority of “living Constitution” justices decided that public figures were not protected by libel laws. Scalia claimed that what is inflexible is the inability now to change the libel law the Supreme Court has instituted with this decision.

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