Josh Blackman: Judge Posner Apologizes For Statements He Made Many Times Before About Constitution. He notes:
Last week, Judge Posner caused quite an uproar with his Slate column suggesting that studying the Constitution was a pointless exercise. …
In a follow-up column, Posner offers this apology:
Some of my contributions this year have drawn an unusual number of criticisms, focused on language I used that could be read as suggesting that I don’t think the Constitution has any role to play in interpreting the law—that it should be forgotten; that constitutional law is and must and maybe should be entirely a judicial creation, like fields of common law.
That was not my intention, and I apologize if carelessness resulted in my misleading readers.
I would be inclined to chalk this up to a misunderstanding, but Posner–who is one of the most effective legal writers on planet earth–said in his Slate column what he had previously said many times before. …
And in conclusion:
Ironically, as much as Posner loved to ridicule Scalia, here Nino is having the last laugh. Posner came clean with his absolute disregard for the text and history of the Constitution, and now after a complete repudiation, he is forced to backtrack–unconvincingly. As Will Baude would say, “Originalism is our law.”
Posted at 6:46 AM