Justice Breyer, in new book, criticizes Court's direction//New York Times

Justice Breyer, Off the Bench, Sounds an Alarm Over the Supreme Court’s Direction 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/us/breyer-supreme-court-interview.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

By Adam Liptak

There are three large problems with originalism,  retired Justice Stephen  Breyer wrote in his forthcoming book:

“First, it requires judges to be historians — a role for which they may not be qualified — constantly searching historical sources for the ‘answer’ where there often isn’t one there,” he wrote. “Second, it leaves no room for judges to consider the practical consequences of the constitutional rules they propound. And third, it does not take into account the ways in which our values as a society evolve over time as we learn from the mistakes of our past.”

Justice Breyer did not accuse the justices who use those methods of being political in the partisan sense or of acting in bad faith. But he said their approach represented an abdication of the judicial role, one in which they ought to consider a problem from every angle.