Volume 11: Issue 1
Originalism, in a Nutshell
What is originalism? It is a bedrock of constitutional interpretation for federalists, but many have found it difficult to define comprehensively what it means. Originalism is, broadly speaking, a catchall term for methods of constitutional interpretation principled on fidelity to the Constitution. It represents not one school of thought but a spectrum of theories about how the Constitution should be interpreted. There is no solid consensus as to when originalism became a formally-recognized method of constitutional interpretation, although at least one account credits Paul Brest with coining the term in “The Misconceived Quest for Original Understanding” in 1980. Another account claims then-Attorney General Edwin Meese III first publicized originalism in a speech before the American Bar Association in 1985. Regardless of its exact debut, originalism has become sensational fodder for debate among constitutional law scholars over the past 30 years...