Some Thoughts on Interpretation

The problems of interpreting a "fixed" or "sacred" text are in some respects similar whether that text is a Holy Book or a secular document. The remarks of retired US Supreme Court justice David Souter are worth pondering. See Justice Souter's Class by Linda Greenhouse in the NYTimes, and read his entire Commencement Address at Harvard. Greenhouse writes, "for those who care about the Supreme Court, Justice Souter served up some rich fare: his own vision of the craft of constitutional interpretation and a defense of the need for judges to go beyond the plain text — what he called the “fair-reading model” — and make choices among the competing values embedded in the Constitution. Doing this was neither judicial activism nor “making up the law,” he said; rather, it was the unavoidable “stuff of judging,” and to suppose otherwise was to “egregiously” miss the point of what constitutional law is about."