Rationalizing 'Absurdity'.

NOTE CONTENTS NOTE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 2383 I. ABSURDITY IN CONTEXT 2390 A. Absurdity in History 2394 B. Absurdity in the Academic Literature and 2397 Judicial Discourse II. THREE CONCEPTIONS OF [...]
Critiqued as a blank check for judicial intervention, the absurdity canon has been all but abandoned by modern textualists. But this Note argues that its total dismissal is unwarranted. By dissecting the multiple meanings of 'absurdity,' this Note reframes the absurdity canon as a form of constitutional avoidance. Properly understood, the absurdity canon enforces constitutional values of rationality embedded in the Equal Protection Clause. This conception should have broad appeal to both textualists and nontextualists alike, calibrating judicial deference with traditional rule-of-law values.