From Carolina Journal Radio Program No. 730: Many of today’s most heated political debates are tied to competing interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. They date back to the earliest days of the American republic. That’s a key theme of Our Republican Constitution, a book from Georgetown University constitutional law professor Randy Barnett. During a recent visit to Raleigh to deliver N.C. State University’s annual John W. Pope Lecture, Barnett outlined the competing constitutional views. He also explained how those views play out in debates about replacing justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.