servative in saying that courts cannot interpret liberally to bring an 18th-
century document up to date. Thus with a majority of original position
adherentsabortionwould probably be banned, overturning the 1973Roe v.
Wadecase. This would not be argued on the grounds that the 1787 document
prohibited abortion, but that pro-abortion law is based on the ‘right to
privacy’, and there is nothing in the US Constitution that overtly guarantees
the right to privacy. Similarly capital punishment would be seen as legitimate
because the operative clause in the constitution, which prohibits ‘cruel and
unusual punishments’, could not have been meant to ban the death penalty
because, at the time, it was very usual, and not seen as cruel. Few commenta-
tors think the original position to be anything more than a cover for nakedly
right-wing policy preferences, but constitutional lawyers nevertheless have
difficulty denying the force of some of its theoretical basis. It remains an
important position in American judicial thought, and the slow move of the
Supreme Court towards the right with a succession of Republican nomina-
tions may return it to the front line of constitutional politics.
Overkill
Overkill is a concept in strategic theory, relating to nuclear warfare. It means a
situation where one or more nations have so much nuclear weaponry that,
whatever the enemy may do, they can guarantee to destroy the enemy’s
country totally and still have unused capacity. Alternatively it can mean that
the combined nuclear capacity of the major states would serve to destroy the
entire world and still not be used up. More figuratively it has come to mean
using or threatening any force or political option which is stronger than is
necessary or appropriate in the context. One might thus use ‘overkill’ in
threatening an irritating neighbour more dramatically than was necessary to
stop them doing something you dislike. It arises as an important concept
because of the wayarms racescan lead to further and further build-up of
forces beyond any rationally-needed level.
Overkill