Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

There are a lot of dilettante non-lawyers who consider themselves Constitutional scholars, and repeatedly express their idea that Rights not explicitly enumerated in The Constitution don't exist; like the right to healthcare. Obviously, these people are unaware of the concept of Constructed Rights; Frankenstein-like rights cobbled together from other Rights, real or imagined, by various Supreme Court decisions over the centuries. Constructed Rights are just as precedence-setting as the real thing. Examples of Constructed Rights are Right to Privacy, Freedom of Movement, Right to Vote, Innocent Until Proven Guilty, and even Freedom of Expression, which laypeople assume are in The Constitution but aren't.

The practical fact is, most new, far-reaching Rights came from various Supreme Courts under the guise of studious deduction of what The Constitution intended, but since Supreme Court justices are appointed by partisan presidents, and stay on The Bench for life; these new Rights are actually more political, moral, or ethical, than judicial. The ideology of the majority of judges does more to determine the direction of America than any legislative process based on democracy. Adding new Rights is usually decried as “judicial activism,” but with the amendment process so burdened with political gridlock, it seems the only method of keeping The Constitution up with the times is through kritarchy, governance by judges.