Re: NRO Article

[Matthew J. Franck]

This may not be the venue for accepting compliments, but thanks, Scott.  You know we disagree about what argue re the Declaration in your book, which I contradicted in my own.  Here I will just say that I think "liberal originalist" is an oxymoron.  But then so is "conservative originalist."  There's just originalism--no adjectives (and yes, I know what you mean by "liberal," but your analysis comes out too close to the common contemporary meaning for me).  Scalia is a good originalist in Lawrence, and a lousy one when it comes to "federalism" and other Loch Ness monsters of the Constitution.

Matt
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Matthew J. Franck
Professor and Chairman
Department of Political Science
Radford University
P.O. Box 6945
Radford, VA  24142-6945
phone 540-831-5854
fax 540-831-6075
e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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At 03:08 PM 7/30/2003 -0400, you wrote:

Thanks for sharing Professor Franck's article with the list, Rick.  I
served on an APSA panel with him a few years ago.  He's a serious
scholar.  That said, I think a "liberal originalist" (i.e., someone who
interprets the Constitution in light of the classical liberal
principles of the Declaration of Independence) can show that both Dred
Scott and Bowers were wrong.  I tried to do that in To Secure These
Rights:  The Declaration of Independence and Constitutional
Interpretation (NYU Press).

Professor Franck does score points against law professors, though!

Best wishes,
Scott Gerber
Law College
Ohio Northern University


Rick Duncan wrote:


>I found an article at National Review Online that I thought you'd like
to
>see:
>
>   http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-franck073003.asp
>
>An interesting article from NRO.
>

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Scott Gerber
Law College
Ohio Northern University
Ada, OH 45810
419-772-2219
http://www.law.onu.edu/faculty/gerber/