At the Claremont Institute website, Michael Uhlmann (Claremont Graduate University, Department of Politics and Policy): Two Cheers For Originalism (Claremont Review of Books, Vol. XV, No. 2, 2015), reviewing (favorably) Michael Stokes Paulsen and Luke Paulsen's The Constitution: An Introduction.
From the conclusion (after noting the Paulsens' sharp critiques of substantive due process):
On a practical level, it is fair to ask what the critique of substantive due process has achieved. The answer, I’m afraid, is precious little, as Obergefell shamelessly reminds us. For the better part of half a century, originalists have railed against liberal Lochnerism, while the progressive Zeitgeist has moved relentlessly on. Liberals talk about justice, the expanding universe of human rights, and the Constitution’s duty to keep pace with what Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes called the “felt necessities of the times.” Meanwhile, conservatives talk about the importance of respecting procedural proprieties. The point is well taken, but is it likely to attract hearts and minds?
…
There is much more to be said about all this, of course, and I would not expect that the critique of substantive due process will be abandoned altogether. But, as I say, it certainly needs rethinking. Arguments from process alone have shown themselves to be of little avail against the juggernaut of rights claims. Sooner or later, constitutional conservatives have to start talking once again about the origin and nature of rights. Perhaps Michael and Luke Paulsen can contribute to that conversation in the next edition of their wonderful introduction to the Constitution—and, let us hope, many future editions as well.
(Via Powerline).
Posted at 6:38 AM