As of this week, Will's Weekly Email Digest is up to 150 subscribers! Thank ALL OF YOU for subscribing and reading this digest each week. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the content, trivia, and of course the weekly dog picture! In fact, I hope you enjoy it so much that you would consider forwarding the opt-in form to a friend! I very much enjoy writing the digest as it helps me hold myself accountable to reading and writing at least a little bit each week and I'm grateful for your readership. Now, about those overdue subscription fees....
As always, happy Wednesday and happy reading.
This Day in History
1803 - The first landmark decision in Supreme Court History is handed down in Marbury vs. Madison, as the Court sets the precedent for its own power of judicial review. Although the decision established this important principle, the case itself was about judicial appointments made by outgoing President John Adams just hours before the inauguration of his successor, Thomas Jefferson. And as we all know, SCOTUS has had neither a controversial case nor political turmoil with judicial appointments since working out these kinks two centuries ago.
Getting to Know Scalia
You've likely heard more than you'd like about the political aftermath of Antonin Scalia's death, but I don't want to discuss that here. Many - most of us - likely have opinions of Scalia one way or another, but what do we really know about him? Until he died on a hunting trip could you have told me he was a hunter?
This interview with Scalia from 2013 is quite fascinating, and well worth a read (from NY Mag). Perhaps it changes your view of Scalia, perhaps not, but it adds nuance and humanity to a man who - like many - is known to us only through the lens of easily consumable mass media. Like him or not, Scalia appears in this piece as exactly who he was: a human being with opinions, beliefs, hobbies, friends, virtues and flaws.
An Untrained Opinion
Scalia was controversial because of his conservative rulings, but it is the intellectual framework he helped put forward that I think is most misplaced. Scalia was a strong proponent of "Originalism," the idea that we should attempt to interpret the Constitution within the context of when it was written, as an enduring, rather than a living document (from NPR).
To my untrained legal mind this seems impractical. For starters I wonder how exactly we ascertain the intent of the founders. For that matter, why do we assume that they universally agreed on how the country should be governed? How do we know they didn't commit duels to the death to resolve their political disputes?
Personally, I believe that our founding fathers would be disappointed with this interpretation. At the time they were writing the Constitution they were the most visionary men in the world. They imagined a newer and more ideal nation than had ever existed. It was imperfect, both in vision and in implementation, but it was and still is historic. America still is a hope and a chance for a better life and a better world.
But to truly honor the spirit of the founders is to imagine what that world should look like, just as they did, not to be bound, literally, to their words. This doesn't mean we ought to reject their ideals, it means we need to find a way to make those ideals work in a world that is much different than theirs.
A to Z, Some Legalese
Just kidding. Legalese seems tedious, these words are fun (from ProjectWins.com). For example, how many men do you know who engage in pogonotrophy each November? Perhaps more than you think.
My First Profile
In celebration of the 150 reader milestone, I want to share a brief profile that was written about me recently.
As you'll see, this isn't technically a biography, but one could say that it is "inspired by true events" based on my life as an ultracrepidarian(from the Onion).
Biscuits in the Snow
Most people prefer their biscuits with jam or gravy, but this particular Biscuit happens to work best with snow. Hailing from Mississippi where he lives with his human Charles, Biscuit is actually very poorly camouflaged for his normal environment, but even Mississippi gets snow once in a while, and Biscuit obviously couldn't resist the temptation to do his best Waldo impersonation. Best of luck finding him in this winter wonderland (hint: he's colored like a polar bear). Big thanks to Charles for sharing Biscuit on a nice, snowy Mississippi day!
Will's Weekly Trivia!
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TRIVIA!
Last Week: Which American president built the interstate system?
Answer: Dwight David "I like Ike" Eisenhower oversaw construction of the US Interstate system.
This Week: Who is the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? Also, what is a quockerwodger? One point awarded for each correct answer.
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