[Past Event] Demise of Fundamental Rights | Ryan Ranch

Course Description:

Many of us believe that our fundamental rights to autonomy and privacy are secured by the U.S. Constitution from interference by the states or the Federal government. But will the shift by the Supreme Court to an “Originalist” interpretation of the Constitution inevitably lead to the demise of our fundamental rights? “We should be afraid,” says UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. The debate between originalism and non-originalism has distracted us all from the real task of Constitutional analysis which is, in Dean Chemerinsky’s words, “to balance the majority’s values against the values that should be protected from society’s majorities.” Is this the real goal of Constitutional analysis? If not, what is the goal?