Harriet Miers

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

For example, look at the second amendment. It clearly says that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Well, some say, this doesn't mean ALL the people, just the people in the well-regulated militia. Even though "the people" in all other amendments means every citizen, they claim it does not here. Thus, in this case, intentional vagueness is manufactured and not a reality.

Heh, and that happens to be one that I don't find vague at all. Again, the wording was chosen very, very carefully. Why is the "militia" clause in there if what they meant was "all people"? It's unnecessary otherwise.

But my point isn't to debate individual interpretations, so lets drop that for a moment. But if you want examples of vagueries...

"Unreasonable searches and seizures" - define unreasonable

define "probable cause"

define "cruel and unusual". Must it truly be cruel AND unusual, or is that really an "or". Wouldn't the definition of what's "unusual" change with the times by nature?

define "speech"

The thing didn't come with a glossary.

Yes, some parts are very specific and have very carefully chose words so as to impart specific meaning. Others are pointedly NOT specific and open to interpretation. With the amount of effort put forth by, and the raw brilliance of, those that penned it, I have a hard time believing they did not know how imprecise that wording was.