Constitutional Law
Sep. 13, 2022
A misguided quest for the original understanding
The Supreme Court’s embracing of originalism is an approach to constitutional law that threatens basic aspects of freedom and equality.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
The Supreme Court's embracing of originalism should frighten us all. In the term that ended on June 30, time and again, the Court invoked originalism to justify coming to very conservative results. It is an approach to constitutional law that threatens basic aspects of freedom and equality.
In striking down a New York law that had been on the books since 1907 that limited concealed weapons in public, the Court in New York State Rifle an...
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