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A Question for Kagan on "Evolving Standards"

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George F. Will has an op-ed in today's Washington Post listing questions Solicitor General Kagan ought to be asked.  I found this one particularly of note for those of us interested in the future of the death penalty:

 Some persons argue that our nation has a "living" Constitution; the court has spoken of "the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society." But Justice Antonin Scalia, speaking against "changeability" and stressing "the whole antievolutionary purpose of a constitution," says "its whole purpose is to prevent change -- to embed certain rights in such a manner that future generations cannot readily take them away. A society that adopts a bill of rights is skeptical that 'evolving standards of decency' always 'mark progress,' and that societies always 'mature,' as opposed to rot." Is he wrong?

The other questions aren't bad either.  Read the whole piece here.

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