We current Justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as Twentieth Century Americans…. 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.

William J. Brennan Jr., a leading voice of the Warren and Burger Courts, articulated this view in the early 1980s amid intensifying debates over “original intent” and the proper method of constitutional interpretation. As conservative legal movements gained influence and criticized the Court’s mid‑century rights-expanding decisions, Brennan defended a “living Constitution” approach: judges inevitably read the text through the lens of their own era, and constitutional principles must be applied to contemporary conditions. The remark is associated with Brennan’s public speeches and writings aimed at explaining and justifying the Court’s role to a broader audience, rather than with an opinion in a specific case.

Brennan argues that constitutional interpretation cannot be a mechanical recovery of fixed eighteenth‑century meanings. Because judges are situated in their own time, they necessarily understand broad constitutional language—liberty, due process, equal protection—through modern experience. For Brennan, the Constitution’s “genius” lies in its general principles, which were framed to endure by being capable of application to unforeseen circumstances. The quote thus stakes out a normative claim: fidelity to the Constitution is shown not by freezing it in the past, but by applying its commitments to present-day problems. It is a concise defense of evolutionary constitutionalism against strict originalism.