Search This Blog

About this Blog

During the semester, I shall post course material and students will comment on it. Students are also free to comment on any aspect of American politics, either current or historical. There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges. This blog is on the open Internet, so post nothing that you would not want a potential employer to see. Syllabus: http://gov20h.blogspot.com/2023/08/draft-introduction-to-american-politics.html

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Originalism

To preface, Amy Coney Barrett is a strict originalist. At the Senate confirmation hearing for Barrett, Lightfoot was asked if she is an originalist: 

 “You ask a gay, black woman if she is an originalist? No, ma’am, I am not,” Lightfoot said with a chuckle.

“That the Constitution didn’t consider me a person in any way, shape or form because I’m a woman, because I’m black, because I’m gay? I am not an originalist. I believe in the Constitution. I believe that it is a document that the founders intended to evolve. What they did was set the framework for how our country was gonna be different from any other.

“But originalists say that, ‘Let’s go back to 1776 and whatever was there in the original language, that’s it.’ That language excluded, now, over 50% of the country. So, no I’m not an originalist.”

Link to article: https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2020/10/13/21514853/amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-lightfoot-gay-same-sex-marriage-constitution

No comments: