[20220113]LSB10684_宪法分析的模式：道德推理与民族精神（六）.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i The Modes of Constitutional Analysis: Moral Reasoning and the National Ethos (Part 6) January 13, 2022 This Legal Sidebar Post is the sixth in a nine-part series that discusses certain “methods” or “modes” of analysis that the Supreme Court has employed to determine the meaning of a provision within the Constitution. (For additional background on this topic and citations to relevant sources, please see CRS Report R45129, Modes of Constitutional Interpretation.) Another approach to constitutional interpretation is based on moral or ethical reasoningoften broadly called the “ethos of the law.” Under this approach, some constitutional text employs terms that are informed by certain moral concepts or ideals, such as “equal protection” or “due process of law.” The moral or ethical arguments based on the text often pertain to the limits of government authority over the individual (i.e., individual rights). For instance, the Supreme Court has derived general moral principles from the broad language of the Fourteenth Amendment in cases involving state laws or actions affecting individual rights.