Of course I don’t believe Justice Thomas reconstructs every case from first principles, Prof. Kerr. I think he has a basic conception of what the Constitution means, just like any principled judge, and he accepts precedents that fit within that meaning and rejects precedents that do not. I don’t see anything unusual about this approach, nor do I agree that any judge who does not rely on stare decisis has to reconstruct each and every case from first principles. |
|