Marcy Wheeler's response to Antonin Scalia's argument that the framers of the 14th Amendment didn't think of women as "persons" and so for the purposes of constitutional interpretation we shouldn't either has to be my favorite so far:
Scalia, one of corporate America's biggest friends on SCOTUS, just killed corporate personhood.
What other conclusion can you draw after reading Scalia's assertion that the 14th Amendment only applies to slaves and not women or gays or -- he doesn't say it but it would follow logically -- corporations?
Look, here's how originalism works. When an obtuse reading of the text gets what you want, like Justice Clarence Thomas arguing that constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment don't actually refer to conditions of confinement but merely the official sentence issued by a judge, because then it's technically "not punishment," you go that route. When the plain text contradicts your preferred policy view, you hide those views by projecting them onto the framers and argue original intent, as Scalia is doing here.
When you have something like birthright citizenship granted by the 14th Amendment, where neither an obtuse reading of the text or arguing "original intent" doesn't work because both support the interpretation you don't like, you just ignore both and start citing foreign law.
