Quotation of the Day…

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… is from page 581 of Richard Epstein’s magisterial 2014 study, The Classical Liberal Constitution (emphasis added):

It should be clear then that both the progressives and conservatives work on models that are too divorced from constitutional text, constitutional theory, and private law. The consequences of these repeated errors are not just judicial curiosities. These epic mistakes in constitutional and political judgment have long-term adverse effects on the power of a nation to regenerate and recreate itself. So long as conservative justices cloak themselves in the language of judicial restraint on structural and economic issues, they will not address the legislative and administrative excesses at both the federal and state levels. So long as progressives continue to embrace policies that first tolerate and then encourage the massive expansion of transfer payments off an ever-decreasing productive base, they will also reinforce the economic and political risks.