The Conservate Attack on Originalism

One of the clichés surrounding the current Wuhan virus pandemic is that, once over, “the world will never be the same.” As though to make good on that claim in the weeks leading up to Palm Sunday, Passover, and Easter, two prominent conservative legal scholars launched attacks on that conservative holy of holies, the judicial doctrine of originalism. The two conservative attacks on originalism are likely seeking to catch the wave of interest in national conservatism among pro-Trump intellectuals. The irony of their attack is that President Trump owes his 2016 election largely to the all-out mobilization of the Republican base in support of his promise to nominate originalist judges and justices to the courts, which he did. Were he to renounce originalism as the two scholars recommend, he almost certainly would lose the 2020 election. Read Full Article »