Original Understanding Seance

You know, as a curious sort of gal, I have always wondered what on earth the method was for "original intent"jurists. Yes, yes, there is historical evidence of what the founding fathers hoped for, and there is the federalist papers. But, I am not sure there is a coherent and prevailing view that always emerges when one pores over those documents.

Well, luckily, Sidney Blumenthal from Salon.com cleared up this confusion for me in his op-ed "The Final Tilt of the Scales":

. . . Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas veer erratically in hot ideological pursuit of the "original understanding" of the Constitution as they divine it, in a mystical séance summoning shades of the founding fathers who bear little resemblance to their historical selves.