Owlglass

Originalism

Originalism, the theory that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the meaning or intent of the drafters, has great appeal to Americans. At one time closely associated with the conservative movement, originalism is now commonly held as an important, if not the exclusive, device for interpreting the Constitution. This has not been our historic practice. Over thirty years ago, Munzer and Nickel (1977, 1029) wrote that “one does not have to dig very deeply into the literature of American constitutional law to suspect that many constitutional provisions do not mean today what their framers thought they meant.” Yet originalism still has great appeal. (_The Failed Promise of Originalism_ - Frank Cross)