Interpretive Choice

REASONS FOR INTERPRETATION

Francisco J. Urbina*

What kinds of reasons should matter in choosing an approach to constitutional or legal interpretation? Scholars offer different types of reasons for their theories of interpretation: conceptual, linguistic, normative, legal, institutional, and reasons based on theories of law. This Article argues that normative reasons, and only normative reasons, can justify interpretive choice. This is the “normative choice thesis.” This Article formulates...