Tag: originalist

Randy Barnett: A Libertarian Scholar’s Memoir and the Making of an American Originalist

CKelly

FreedomFest is an annual, largely Libertarian conference that brings together people from various fields to discuss and promote ideas related to liberty, free markets, and individual freedom. This year in Las Vegas, The Arizona Sun Times interviewed Randy Barnett, whose memoir, A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist, offers an insightful look into his life, philosophy, and professional achievements. As one of the most influential legal scholars in constitutional law, Barnett champions liberty and originalism in his book. Originalism, he explains, is the judicial interpretation of the Constitution that aims to closely follow the original intentions of its framers.

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REVIEW: New Book ‘Rise to Greatness’ Explores How a Kid from Queens Became One of History’s Most Influential Supreme Court Justices

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Antonin Scalia was a budding textualist long before he transformed the Supreme Court, and the nation, with his unique legal approach, a new biography of his early life reveals.

In the 1950s, the future Supreme Court Justice spent his mornings on the New York subway, commuting with his rifle to Xavier High School, a hybrid Jesuit-run Catholic school and military academy in Manhattan. His teacher’s response one day to a student’s sarcastic comment about “Hamlet” became a moment Scalia would never forget — and would refer to for the rest of his life as the Shakespeare Principle: “Mistah, when you read Shakespeah, Shakespeah’s not on trial; you ah,” Father Thomas Matthews said.

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