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Agenda for 2nd Class • Misc. – Name plates – Hike carpools and other info (A-C1 only) – Model answers • Methods of Statutory Interpretation • Warden Grim 1 Assignment for Next Class • ## 9 -12 (Weber, National Society) • Exercise 4 Flower • Questions to think about – Any questions from today’s reading that we don’t finish – Notes and Questions, pp. 45ff, ## 1-7 – Notes and Questions pp. 55ff. ##1, 3, 4 • Mandatory writing assignment – Groups 3-4. • Notes and Questions, pp. 45ff, ## 1-7 • Notes and Questions pp. 55ff. ##1, 3, 4 – Groups 1-2. Exercise 3. Flower – These are group assignments 2 Review of Last Class • Both majority and dissent is Smith rely primarily on close interpretation of statutory text – Both are textualist • Shows influence of textualism on court – But reach different result • Shows that textualism does not necessarily give more definite results than other methods of interpretation – Textualist methods • • Dictionaries • Usual meaning • Meaning in other parts of statute • rules of statutory interpretation: “rule of lenity” Methods of statutory interpretation • Textualism. See above • Intentionalism. Use legislative history to figure out what legislators intended • Purposivism. Infer purpose from text and context and then use to interpret ambiguous provisions • Pragmatism. Choose interpretation with best real-world consequences 3 Questions • 10) For a brief period after the French Revolution, French judges were forbidden to “interpret” statutes. If doubt about the meaning of a statute arose during a case, judges were supposed to petition the legislature to interpret the statute and then apply the legislature’s interpretation to the case. The procedure was known as référé législatif. Do you think that’s a good procedure? Should we adopt it in the United States? Can you guess why it was abandoned in France? (A-C1 only) • 11) The United States has among the harshest drug laws in the world and among the highest prison populations. Should those facts influence judges in interpreting 18 U.S.C. §924(c)(1)? 4 Questions on Statutory Interpretation • 5. Which method of statutory interpretation is most consistent with democracy? • 6. Which method of statutory interpretation is most likely to result in interpretations which promote social goals such as justice, efficiency, or fairness? • 7. Which method of statutory interpretation is most likely to constrain judges so that a judge’s ideology or policy preferences have the least effect on judicial decisions? • 8. Which method of statutory interpretation is likely to give citizens and corporations the clearest notice of their obligations? • 9. Which method of statutory interpretation is likely to give legislators the best incentives to draft statutes carefully? • 10. Which method of statutory interpretation would you adopt if you were a judge? 5 Inmates v. Warden Grim and Greylock State Prison 6