Peter Irons - A People's History of the Supreme Court

This is a splendid history of the Supreme Court, appropriate because of the impending confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor. The approach of this book is progressive, focusing on the individuals whose lives intersected with the high court and led to the decisions that determine the way we live in this country.

The drift of constitutional intepretation in the US has been progressive. Conservatives will never admit it, but it is the truth.

Like all progressives, I favor an expansive interpretation of the Constitution, favoring the liberty of the individual over the power of the state. Conservatives these days certainly support an expansion of governmental power at the Constitutional level while phonily bemoaning "Big Government."

A "strict constructionist" by conservative standards means stick it to the individual and more power to big business. Let Big Business run the country says the strict constructionist.

I support the First Amendment. This is the cornerstone of our freedoms. Conservatives will whittle away at the First Amendment as much as they can.

We do have a living Constitution despite what Scalia says. Let us move forward and not slip back into the 19th century like the right-wingers wish.