spooner was a change agent. spooner was not someone who wanted to hold the content of the law study. the content of the law on slavery was pretty well-known and people could spend their lives around it. it was evil, but it was known, and it was as stable. spooner is a genius and he would find a way to attack it and revolutionize people's understanding of the constitution. for that he appealed to a set of original meanings. original meanings lend themselves well to visionary change. they are indeterminate meaning you can pour new content into them, and they function as an appeal to the highest moral authority in our system, the founders. that is a wonderful combination for someone seeming to make a change. >> it is entirely possible for judges to be wrong. >> is that so? [laughter] >> it is important to keep in mind a distinction that has not emerged yet. i should have got this out in my opening remarks. that is the difference between deciding what the words of the text means and applying that to facts and circum