President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, once wrote that Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court judicial nominees should explore a “nominee’s set of constitutional views and commitments.” By all means, let’s accommodate her and begin exploring.

We could start with the presumption, given Obama’s ideology and judicial philosophy, that any nominee he chooses will be troubling for advocates of judicial restraint and interpreting the Constitution according to its original understanding. But let’s put that aside for this little exploration.