Three Lefty Supreme Court Justices Affirm Originalism In Unanimous Jury Ruling
With three conservatives and three liberals signing on to the originalist ruling in Ramos v. Louisiana, we see more evidence that the 'living Constitution' school of thought is in decline.
By Kyle Sammin
April 22, 2020
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that for defendants to be convicted of crimes, juries must decide their guilt unanimously, not by a simple majority or any other fraction. If that seems obvious, it may be because in the federal judiciary and the courts of 48 states, this is already the law and has been for a long time. Oregon and Louisiana were, until this week, the only outliers.
In applying the Sixth Amendment to the entire nation, the court ensured defendants in those two states could avail themselves of its full meaning of right. More than that, the opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch struck a blow for originalism, the theory that the words of the Constitution should be interpreted consistent with the public understanding of them at the time they were enacted.
That he did so with the concurrence of three liberal justices (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor) and one conservative (Brett Kavanaugh) shows originalism is not just a theory to advance conservative ideas. It is a theory about how to find the truth of a thing, and how not to impose a judge’s own opinion in place of the law.
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https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/22/three-lefty-supreme-court-justices-affirm-originalism-in-unanimous-jury-ruling/
