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What the founders actually meant by originalism

Jay Rogers· ·4 min read · 0 reactions · 0 comments · 8 views
What the founders actually meant by originalism

Originalism has become a Federalist Society word. That’s a problem. Not because the Federalist Society is wrong about constitutional interpretation, but because reducing a civic practice to a judicial philosophy makes it sound like something that belongs to lawyers. It never did. The founders weren’t writing for law reviews. They weren’t writing for federal judges. […]

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Washington Examiner · Jay Rogers
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand

Originalism has become a Federalist Society word. That’s a problem. Not because the Federalist Society is wrong about constitutional interpretation, but because reducing a civic practice to a judicial philosophy makes it sound like something that belongs to lawyers. It never did. The founders weren’t writing for law reviews. They weren’t writing for federal judges. They were writing for citizens — specifically for the citizens of 13 newly independent states who were being asked to ratify a new frame of government and who needed to understand what they were authorizing. The Federalist Papers were newspaper op-eds published under pseudonyms in New York newspapers between 1787 and 1788, addressed to general readers making a political decision.

Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Washington Examiner.

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