GOP candidates for governor squabble over Constitutional issues

In early April, Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett called the Constitution a “living document.” Corbett says the statement was taken out of context, but his opponent, Representative Sam Rohrer, has seized on the remark as proof Corbett isn’t a true conservative.

In early April, Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett called the Constitution a “living document.”

Corbett says the statement was taken out of context, but his opponent, Representative Sam Rohrer, has seized on the remark as proof Corbett isn’t a true conservative.

Rohrer, who brands himself as a “Constitutional Republican,” says anyone who calls the Constitution a “living document” is speaking in code, and supports activist judges “legislating from the bench.”

Rohrer says that stance reveals a type of character he says is too compromising and flexible to govern the state.

“Most that I know who hold to a living document philosophy don’t hold to a position of absolute truth,” says Rohrer, “meaning that they don’t believe there’s anything that’s absolutely unchangeable, everything is subject to some amount of interpretation, negotiation, whatever. I don’t believe that.”

When Rohrer first began to levy this criticism, Corbett called it “desperate,” and insisted the “living document” line was taken out of context.

Corbett says he’s a strict constructionist, and he doesn’t think the Constitution’s meaning is open to debate.

The issue of Constitutional interpretation is a hot-button topic for the tea party activists both campaigns have been courting.