The Supreme Court Does Not Exclusively Determine Constitutional Meaning
Legal scholar Jamelle Bouie argues that constitutional meaning-making is not solely the province of the judiciary, but should be shared with Congress and the public. He contends that the conflation of legal decision-making with constitutional interpretation is a recent phenomenon, dating only to the last 50 years. This matters because it challenges the current doctrine of judicial supremacy and suggests alternative democratic pathways for shaping constitutional understanding.
In this opinion piece, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie distinguishes between the judiciary's role in interpreting law and the broader question of constitutional meaning, arguing these are separate tasks. He traces how the modern assumption that courts alone determine constitutional meaning is historically recent, citing legal historians Nikolas Bowie and Daphna Renan. Bouie points to historical precedent—particularly the Republican Party's organized opposition to Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857—as evidence that Congress and the people have previously shaped constitutional meaning through legislation and reform. He notes that the Constitution itself was ratified by state conventions representing the public, not just legislatures or courts, suggesting multiple legitimate sources of constitutional authority beyond the judiciary.
What's missing
The article is an opinion piece and does not provide specific examples of recent Supreme Court decisions that prompted this argument, nor does it detail what constitutional questions are currently contested between the Court and other branches of government.
What different sources said
The Supreme Court Doesn’t Own the Constitution
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