Most judges will have a particular, preferred judicial philosophy which determines how they interpret ambiguous text in a constitution. Understanding the philosophy of justices of the US Supreme Court is particularly important because these nine judges have the sole authority to interpret the US Constitution through the power of judicial review. Strict and loose constructionism refer to different ways of carrying out this often controversial role (Box 1).
This approach limits judges to following the precise or literal meaning of the relevant section when interpreting the Constitution and its amendments. Judges should also use other written evidence of the thinking of those who wrote the Constitution to ‘construct’ what that section was intended to mean. Once a clear meaning of the text has been established, judges should restrain themselves from going any further in interpreting the Constitution.
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