Suggestions for Sonia

What better time than now, the day after a liberal judge is nominated to the Supreme Court, to read about constitutional interpretation? In two new books, liberal scholars present ideas for advancing the Supreme Court. Both books operate around the fundamental liberal philosophy that the Constitution is a “living document,”—a set of “ideals” that each generation is free to tailor to its own needs. In The Constitution in 2020, Reva Siegel and Robert Post point out that conservative justices, in their attempts to adhere to the original text of the Constitution, have disguised their own opinions as those of the founding fathers. In essays by contributors like Cass Sunstein and Harold Koh, 2020 outlines the general ideas that liberals have for the Supreme Court. And Keeping the Faith With the Constitution, by Goodwin Liu and Pamela Karlan discusses the “constitutional fidelity” of the Supreme Court, outlining how the Constitution is currently being interpreted—and how that interpretation can be improved by future justices.