“A Matter of Interpretation,” Justice Antonin Scalia lays out three key elements of textualism, which are explicitly present in two other competing approaches of statutory interpretation. The meaning and the intent of the law, are two of the key elements of textualism which are present in the living Constitution and strict constructionism approaches. In addition, the context of the law is an element of textualism which is present in the living Constitution approach. When Justice Scalia speaks about
context reveals the meaning of the words; similarly changing the context of the words would also alternate the meaning of the text (McGreal 2005; page 1268). Every text-context pairing bears different meaning. The constitutional argument behind Textualism drives a wedge between the text and the context. Justice Scalia argues for the practice claiming that argues the Constitution's lawmaking process, noting that only a statute's text “passes through the constitutionally-prescribed lawmaking
In the play, “Romeo and Juliet”, William Shakespeare has effectively portrayed Romeo as a character who is a hopeless romantic. By utilisation of textual and language features in Lines 1-101 in Act 2, Scene 2, the audience is positioned to perceive Romeo as willing to do anything for his love, Juliet. In the general plot of the scene, Romeo stands beneath Juliet’s balcony listening to her soliloquy of love directed to him. Romeo eventually confronts her, resulting in the pair of star-crossed lovers
DeShaney v. Winnebago County was a landmark Supreme Court Case which was ruled on in February, 1989. The case revolved around Joshua DeShaney, a child who who was reportedly abused by his father, Randy DeShaney. In 1980, Joshua's parents divorced and his father won full custody. In 1983, Joshua was hospitalized for suspected abuse by his father. Winnebago County Department of Social Services got involved and four year old Joshua DeShaney was kept in the hospital's custody for three days. However
The Federal Constitution is a short document which only consists of approximately 7,000 words.The founders wanted it to be short for several reasons:(1) It's meant to be only be a framework for a new government. Basically, Constitution as merely a guideline for how the government should behave.Nowhere does the Constitution read as merely suggested, everything written in it seems pretty definitive, especially about what Congress should and should not do. (2) The founders were ,also framers of the
The original case had six plaintiffs but the plaintiff that carried the case to the U.S. Supreme Court was Dick Heller. Heller was a special police officer in the District of Columbia. Heller was authorized to carry a firearm on duty, but not at home. Heller's neighborhood was experiencing a rise in crime and Heller naturally wanted to keep a handgun for protection at his home. Unfortunately, for Mr. Heller, the District of Columbia banned the possession of handguns. The D.C. law made it illegal
In Jane Tompkins essay, “Indians”: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History” she describes the issues on how history can be flawed by being told from the observer’s point view. She also goes out to question the validity of history in certain historical books. All through the essay, Tompkins’ central message is to let the historical writers know that morality should be the crux of their decision making if they want the truth. It is crucial to know that when learning history you are subject
Sometimes reading poems and stories might get difficult. Students often have a sense that when a reading is assigned they can just skim though it and get some detail out of it. Of course some detail is going to be obtained from the book or articles, but not complete information. In a sense this is when we can tell the difference between literature and intellectual literature. Literature is for some extremely easy to understand, since all the answers appear in the story or poem. The key is being able
“Rituals and Traditions; It Takes a Tribe,” written by David Berreby and “Indians: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History” written by Jane Tompkins, both exemplify a typical controversial topic in the United States of America today. The US prides there self on the basis of freedom, and how Americans are made up of individuals with backgrounds from all around the world. Many consider the US to be a “melting pot”, a society where cultures are just blended together and not recognized fully
becoming a textualism which means that the judges of the Supreme Court try to decide that they can make news laws, even though their job is just to interpret the laws. They figure since the Constitution was written in 1788, that the Constitution doesn’t have the same meaning as it did back then. On the other hand, you have people that believe that you should interpret the laws that come in with using the Constitution the same way judges did way back then. An example of a person that is a textualism would
In the document, "Indians: Textualism, Morality, and The Problem of History," Jane Tompkins examines the conflicts between the English settlers and the American Indians. After examining several primary sources, Tompkins found that different history books have different perspectives. It wasn’t that the history books took different angles that was troubling, but the viewpoints contradicted one another. People who experience the same event told it through their reality. This becomes a problem when a
Although Tompkins’ stated goal in her essay Indians: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History is to recount a specific instance in her life where post-structuralism made historical research difficult, the fundamental theme is the discussion of the divergent approaches that come from academic inquiry and pragmatic social progress. Through a narrative about her life as a child in New York City, Tompkins begins her essay discussing the problems faced by modern Native Americans and the dehumanized
accounts. In “Art of the Contact Zone,” Pratt explores the issue of whose version of history gets favored and whose gets limited by analyzing the circumstances surrounding Guaman Poma’s and de la Vega’s letter to the King of Spain. In “‘Indians’: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History,” Tompkins investigates how history is shaped in accordance to personal biases and cultural conditions of historians by questioning different writings about Native Americans. Each author comes to the conclusion
Judicial review in Canada refers to the power of the courts, specifically the Supreme Court of Canada and provincial superior courts, to review the constitutionality of laws and regulations. This power is taken from the Canadian Constitution, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which serves as the supreme law of the land. Through judicial review, courts can invalidate laws or government actions that are found to be inconsistent with the Constitution. Judicial activism in Canada refers mainly
Plato’s ideals Arguably, in the history of ideas, Plato has planted the strongest and deepest seeds to the mind of humans and we have been pondering and trying to exercise them ever since. His “theory of forms” will be discussed, and somewhat hesitantly dismissed, in the context as he writes in the works of “The Republic”, because his theory is sound the same way math equations are sound and lead to undisputable answers, but problematic in how it can be proved and to whom it actually benefits will
Bloody Sunday. L'Derry, Northern Ireland: Guildhall Press, 1997. 120-130. Morrison, Matt. "Remembering Bloody Sunday." The Irish People. 25 Jan. 1997. 1 Oct. 2000 <http://larkspirit.com/bloodysunday/witness.htm>. Tompkins, Jane. “’Indians’: Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History.” in “Race,” Writing, and Difference. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1986. 59-77. Winchester, Simon. "13 Killed as Paratroopers Break Riot." Guardian Unlimited Special Reports. 20
Discourse on Method Heuresis (or invention) comprises, as Richard Lanham notes, "the first of the five traditional parts of rhetorical theory, concerned with the finding and elaboration of arguments" (1991: 91). In Aristotle's Rhetoric the category of heuresis included the kinds of proof available to the rhetorician, lists of valid and invalid topoi, as well as the various commonplaces the rhetorician might touch upon - loci or stereotypical themes and observations ("time flies") appropriate
Passionate Learning To lack [self-respect] is to be locked within oneself, paradoxically incapable of either love or indifference.....It is the phenomenon sometimes called 'alienation from self.' In it's advanced stage, we no longer answer the telephone, because someone might want something; that we could say no without drowning in self-reproach is an idea alien to this game. -Joan Didion, "On Self-Respect" Last Spring, as part of a senior project, I took Tai Chi classes and researched how