Constitutional Myth or Misconception #5

Myth or Misconception #5: The Constitution is a document for lawyers and judges. Stephen Markman, who teaches constitutional law at Hillsdale College , was appointed by Governor John Engler in 1999 as Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and subsequently elected to that position. Prior to that he served as United States Attorney in Michigan (appointed by President George H. W. Bush); Assistant Attorney General of the United States (appointed by President Ronald Reagan), in which position he coordinated the federal judicial selection process; Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution; and Deputy Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Justice Markman has written for numerous legal journals, including the Stanford Law Review, the University of Chicago Law Review , the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. The following is adapted from a speech delivered on April 29, 2003, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Dearborn, Michigan. This is the 5th podcast in a series of eight. This is reprinted and podcasted by permission from IMPRIMIS, the national speech digest of Hillsdale College, www.hillsdale.edu.