They are willing to test the boundaries of present U.S. Supreme Court doctrine.

A rigorous doctrine of imputation is not only limiting but ends up doing a disservice to the nature of grace and justification. It makes the transactions of the gospel basically juridical. In the Roman view, justification and sanctification are a seamless fabric. It is more than a question of God simply seeing us through a legal scrim of Christ's righteousness. Righteousness actually begins to transform us.

I think the document has to be read from a commonsense perspective. The constitution is not a suicide pact. In a sense, that has to be the answer.

This court certainly doesn't lack self-confidence. It's a conservative activism for the most part, but the justices aren't afraid to decide where the legal lines are drawn.

We're talking about a constitution that is in its third century. That's really quite remarkable among any of the nations of the world. It suggests an essential stability of our political system that many may envy but not many can emulate.

In many ways, the U.S. Supreme Court remains the paradigm.