How Does the Supreme Court Interpret the Constitution

When seeking out statutory law, paralegals must be aware of an important task that accompanies it, and that is of interpreting the constitution. This is significant because statutes are exercised according to what is set forth within the constitution.

While the constitution maintains and authorizes the foundational doctrine of the law, statutes demonstrate how they will be put into practice in terms of their specific natures. Statutes take their cues from the constitution, and, thus, such a hierarchical relationship makes it vital for paralegals to be quite familiar with the intricacies of interpreting the constitution with the final goal of understanding the statutes themselves.

To begin with, the Supreme court holds the ultimate power when concerning both the institution and employment of federal and state laws or statutes. They possess the authority to decide and preside over any statutes that they find in violation of the constitution. Now equipped with the knowledge of how exactly statutes relate to the constitution, we will highlight the considerations involved in the actual interpretation of the constitution. In general, there exist five elements, which assist in such an interpretation.

These consist of the following: its wording and framework, the intent behind its construction, precedence for it, the various results connected to areas such as economic and political due to additional interpretations, and finally, that of natural law. These areas of concerned may be compressed into four more specific titles of interest. These include the "textualist," "intentionalist," "pragmatist," and the "natural law theorist." The textualist is an individual who looks to the specific wording within the constitution in search of meaning, which they apply to their assertion of the lackluster ability of courts to garner "collective intent."

An Inventionalist is one who maintains the intent of various parties, such as that of "ratifiers," as a primary area necessary for constitutional interpretation to occur. Pragmatists look to other venues as they look very keenly upon precedence as a key to interpretation. They make use of the occurrences of multiple interpretations, which they would then seek in connection to their own. "Natural law theorists," however, seem to be in contrast to all these aspects altogether as they look to aspects of "higher moral law," and place it above law that they feel is at odds with what is just and right.

In constitutional law, which reigns over all interpretations of its text, all authority set forth must have its origins as stemming directly or indirectly from it. Since statutory law does enter at a level coming under the constitution, it is vital that paralegals do their research.

Without a correct understanding as well as a firm grasp on the principles that lie within the constitution, there is little or no basis for which to even begin the journey towards the finding of statutory law, let alone its desired interpretation. It is important to be aware of the distribution of power within a country in order to apply all such sources in the correct ways in pursuit of your final goal of such pertinent interpretation.

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