Report #5: Judicial Decision Making Before beginning this assignment, make certain that you have read Chapter 15 in your text (“The Federal Courts”), watched the hour-long CSPAN video on Antonin Scalia, and read the following two articles: “Originalism, Amy Coney Barrett’s Approach to the Constitution, Explained” (by Ian Millhiser in Vox October 12, 2020) and “The Lie About the Supreme Court Everyone Pretends to Believe” by Adam Serwer in The Atlantic September 28, 2021). The links are provided below. Then write a brief report that contains three separate sections that address all the points in each set of questions. Notice the expected word count for each section (exceeding the word count will not negatively affect your grade, but please try to stay within the range).

1. Describe Justice Scalia’s perspective on Constitutional interpretation based on the CSPAN video interview. What does he say guides his decision making? List and describe two points made by Justice Scalia that you found particularly interesting, novel, or insightful. (approximately 150-200 words)

2. Using your text and the article in Vox, define originalism and indicate why some find this perspective appealing. What are the limits of this perspective? How does originalism constrain judges? How does the author of the Vox article say that originalism might actually give Supreme Court justices tremendous discretion? (approximately 150-200 words)

3. According to the piece in The Atlantic, what is the “lie” about the Supreme Court that everyone pretends to believe? What evidence does the author use to support his point of view? Given what your textbook says, does it appear that empirical findings from political science research supports this perspective? (approximately 150-200 words)

Be careful not to plagiarize. If you want to quote directly, do so using quotation marks (giving the page number if available). But try to do this sparingly and simply use your own words in addressing the questions. In your writing, use an analytical tone. In other words, try to answer the questions in a straightforward and objective manner. When you are done, save the document as a Word file or as an Adobe PDF file (it cannot be Google docs, etc.) and upload it through Moodle (these parts are very important!). Papers not uploaded by the deadline will receive a grade penalty. WARNING: This is an individual assignment and you are to do your own work. Use of another person’s words without proper citation or copying from another student’s paper is considered plagiarism. All papers are checked and retained in a plagiarism software program to identify cheating. Any suspicion of plagiarism or other violations of the university’s academic conduct policies are turned over to the Dean of Students. Links to the articles and the video: CSPAN Video: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

Vox: Originalism, Amy Coney Barrett's Approach to the Constitution, Explained

The Atlantic: The Lie About the Supreme Court Everyone Pretends to Believe