"We current Justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as Twentieth Century Americans. We look to the history of the time of framing and to the intervening history of interpretation. But the ultimate question must be, what do the words of the text mean in our time. For the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs."

--

Source : "The Constitution of the United States: Contemporary Ratification" (speech),Washington, D.C., 12 Oct. 1985

Byron White
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Harry A. Blackmun
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
John Paul Stevens
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Potter Stewart
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Thurgood Marshall
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Warren E. Burger
Former Chief Justice of the United States
William O. Douglas
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
William Rehnquist
Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

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