A SCOTUS Fight Decoder Ring

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A number of our recent guests have argued that, following the Miers nomination, they were itching for a fight. Now, they say, we’ll have our bench-filling brawl. But what will the fight actually be about? What does judicial activism mean? What does a strict constructionist look — or write — like? What about an originalist? Can the left and right agree on a definition for “legislating from the bench?” We keep hearing these phrases, and it’s hard to tell which you’d hear in a Con law class and which were dreamed up by political operatives. Can we decode the words of this battle?

Cass Sunstein

Karl N. Llewellyn Dist. Service Prof. of Jurisprudence, The University of Chicago Law School

Ann Althouse

Blogger, Althouse

Robert W. & Irma M. Arthur-Bascom Professor of Law, The University of Wisconsin Law School

Eric Muller

Blogger, Is That Legal?

George R. Ward Professor of Law , UNC

Charles Fried

Beneficial Professor of Law, Harvard University Law School