Constitution
Understanding the Constitution: Strict Construction, Textualism, and Originalism
Reporters and opinion writers often classify Supreme Court justices as “originalists,” “textualists,” or “strict constructionists.” And they often misuse those terms. For example, a Dec. 9 column in Slate treated all three terms as synonymous. That’s entirely wrong....
The Federal Judiciary: Independence Without Accountability?
This is the second article in a series on “The Struggle for Ratification: Advocates and Opponents Debate Judicial Review.” You can read Part 1 HERE. Beyond assessing the impact of judicial review on the states, Brutus proceeded to analyze its effect on the...
Blackstone on the Unitary Executive
Earlier this month Professor Jed Shugerman, in a series of blog posts and a short article, sharply criticized originalist executive power scholars, and particularly a brief submitted to the Supreme Court in Seila Law v. CFPB. (See here [Originalism Blog...
The Values in the Constitution
The Declaration of Independence expressed a common American creed: All are born equal before God and the law, God bestows humans with natural rights, some of these rights are unalienable (untransferable), it’s the purpose of government to secure them, and if a...