> where the former are far more likely to profess strict adherence to the text of the law (particularly constitutional law)
This is a fiction and just an excuse conservative justices use to make conservative rulings when they don't like a law.
They are perfectly fine to abandon the text of the law whenever it doesn't move forward a conservative agenda. The shining example of this is the voting rights act. Something never amended or repealed by congress but slowly dismantled by the court counter to both the intent and the text of the law.
And if you don't believe me, I suggest reading over the Shelby County v. Holder [1] decision because they put it in black and white.
> Nearly 50 years later, they are still in effect; indeed, they have been made more stringent, and are now scheduled to last until 2031. There is no denying, however, that the conditions that originally justified these measures no longer characterize voting in the covered jurisdictions.
IE "We know the law says this, and it's still supposed to be in effect. But we don't like what it does so we are canceling it based on census data".
> This is a fiction and just an excuse conservative justices use to make conservative rulings when they don't like a law.
Isn't this the other way around? If you cite "the spirit of the law" then you're ignoring the text in order to do whatever you want.
Finding a "conservative" judge who does the latter is evidence that the particular judge is hypocrite rather than any argument that ignoring what the law actually says is the right thing to do.
But you also picked kind of a bad example, because that wasn't a case about how to interpret the law, it was about whether the law was unconstitutional.
That's an uncharitable reading. Citing the "the spirit of the law" is
not automatically ignoring the text in order to do whatever you want. It can be "how do I apply this archaic text about oxen (or whatever) to current events". Maybe the meaning is that stealing stuff in general is frowned upon, not just oxen. Or should we focus on how a Chevrolet Corvette is definitely not an ox?
Interpreting constitutions and very old laws requires a different frame than modern laws that merely say something different than you'd like them to.
Why does the First Amendment say "freedom of speech, or of the press" and make no mention of radio or TV or the internet? Because, of course, it was enacted in 1791. The drafters can't be expected to have listed things that didn't exist yet and it's obvious to everyone that it's meant to apply to this category of things even if we're now using fiber optics and satellites instead of dead trees.
But if you're interpreting a law from 20 years ago instead of 200 and nothing relevant has changed that the drafters couldn't have predicted when it was enacted, the fact that someone is doing what you said instead of what you meant is entirely down to you being bad at saying what you mean and that ought to be on you rather than on them.
I’m not saying it’s true or false. Hypocrisy is universal to politics, and it’s trivial to find examples throughout US history on all sides of the political spectrum. I’m just saying that the issue of strict interpretation is so fundamental to the US legal system that it’s a core philosophical debate for judges.
This is a fiction and just an excuse conservative justices use to make conservative rulings when they don't like a law.
They are perfectly fine to abandon the text of the law whenever it doesn't move forward a conservative agenda. The shining example of this is the voting rights act. Something never amended or repealed by congress but slowly dismantled by the court counter to both the intent and the text of the law.
And if you don't believe me, I suggest reading over the Shelby County v. Holder [1] decision because they put it in black and white.
> Nearly 50 years later, they are still in effect; indeed, they have been made more stringent, and are now scheduled to last until 2031. There is no denying, however, that the conditions that originally justified these measures no longer characterize voting in the covered jurisdictions.
IE "We know the law says this, and it's still supposed to be in effect. But we don't like what it does so we are canceling it based on census data".
[1] https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/570/529/