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Article: Shelf life.('In Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence', 'ESV Study Bible', and 'Oxford's new English Standard Version Bible with Apocrypha')(Book review)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- March 23, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE transformation of the judiciary into an activist legislator of social change has been one of the most remarked-upon--and, among conservatives, decried--political developments of the past century. In Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence (ISI, 241 pp., $25), political philosopher Bradley C. S. Watson does an impressive job of analyzing how, exactly, this happened. The judges of today play a dramatically different role than was envisioned for them in the Constitution, largely because they no longer consider themselves primarily as backward-looking servants of timeless truths embodied in that document. Instead, notes Watson, ...