> Here's the second one. It's a little more recent. It comes from Supreme
> Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who made an appearance with fellow Justice
> Stephen Breyer in Arizona yesterday.
>
> The whole purpose of a constitution is to constrain the desires of the
> current society.
To be fair, that is kind of true. A constitutional democracy is like a constitutional monarchy: the constitution constrains what the sovereign can do. That's what it means to have a constitution.
Michael
^^^^^^^
CB: The Bill of Rights and some of the other amendments constrain the state vis-a-vis individuals. ( The 13th Amendment constrains private property from owning people) The body of the Constitution enumerates the powers of the state.
Theoretically, the US democracy is popular sovereignty (All power to all of the People), all power derives from the People , and there are no constraints on the People' power Theoretically they could even make slavery legal again. The People can put anything into the Constitution they want, and it's the final word....theoretically
..._theoretically_ And even theoretically for example, the constitutional amendment process is not by a direct vote of the whole people. It is an elaborate republican process.
And Scalia is definitely nuts.