A federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan argued in a recent post on
Slate that less attention should be paid to the U.S. Constitution since much of it is not relevant to the 21st century.
"I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation (across the centuries — well, just a little more than two centuries, and of course less for many of the amendments)," writes 7th Circuit Judge Richard Posner.
"Eighteenth-century guys, however smart, could not foresee the culture, technology, etc., of the 21st century," he said. "Which means that the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the post-Civil War amendments (including the 14th), do not speak to today."
Conservative talk radio host
Rush Limbaugh on Monday called Posner's remarks "stunning."
"It's only the official law of the land, and here's a Seventh Circuit judge saying it's worthless!" Limbaugh said. "The amendments? Its implementation? It's a waste of time even if you spend seconds studying it."
The Constitution was the first document in history to limit the power of government and give it to the citizens, he noted. "And that is why the opponents want to get rid of it, because it limits the government. It does not empower government. It empowers citizens. It empowers individuals."
Limbaugh argued that the Constitution does indeed speak to modern society, and has done so successfully.
Posner, appointed by Reagan in 1981, "illustrates how people can lose their grounding," Limbaugh said. "This is the kind of thing, by the way, that's gonna be latched onto. There's a whole movement on the left that agrees with this."
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