Modern Age * Winter 2018 The Constitution created a federal government with limited and enumerated powers for a reason fers enormous power on the least democratically accountable branch (life-tenured, unelected judges). Conservative legal scholar Ed Whelan has called this theory "a fantasy libertarian constitution," and it is. But worse than that, it is a dangerous, utopian fantasy-based on a theoretical sleight-of-hand-that ignores the premises of the Constitution, dramatically weakens the states as political entities, and disregards human nature by presuming wisdom and honesty on the part of judges. Premises Owing in large part to the tenacity of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, originalism has become the dominant force in constitutional theory on the right. Originalism requires that the Constitution be interpreted according to its original public meaning. The Constitution is a text. Judges should try to ascertain the meaning of that text, which is binding on succeeding generations as a social compact. Judges serve a role different from that of legislators. This is why the framers created a Constitution with separate powers for 24 modernagejournal.comhttp://www.modernagejournal.com