The Danger of Amy Coney Barrett: Interview with Prof. Francis Boyle

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Thu, 10/15/2020 - 5:15pm to 5:30pm
Amy Coney Barrett

Boyle is a law professor at the University of Illinois. He says that a major danger of Amy Coney Barrett is her interpretation of the concept of 'originalism', and the fact that she was selected by the Federalist Society for this judicial appointment.

Boyle said, "Scalia himself was the first proponent of 'originalism' on the Supreme Court. He got it from Robert Bork and Ed Meese, who controlled judicial nominations during the Reagan administration. It was their litmus test for all judicial appointments and nominations.

 "But 'originalism' is a farce. Justice [Robert H.] Jackson's landmark opinion in the Steel Seizure case in 1952 actually debunked it decades earlier."

Jackson wrote: "Just what our forefathers did envision, or would have envisioned had they foreseen modern conditions, must be divined from materials almost as enigmatic as the dreams Joseph was called upon to interpret for Pharaoh. A century and a half of partisan debate and scholarly speculation yields no net result but only supplies more or less apt quotations from respected sources on each side of any question. They largely cancel each other."

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