For just about the first third of the Constitution's lifetime, virtually no lawyer in the United States had any way to investigate the text's original meaning. The resources to do it either didn't exist or were completely out of reach. Originalism, whatever its merits, simply couldn't have been done.
Many scholars and judges today argue that the right way to ascertain the correct meaning of the Constitution's text is through a search for its 'original' meaning. They say it's not just the right way as a matter of accuracy and respect for democracy's rules, but it's also the method that the Constitution itself requires.
#originalism #constitutional-interpretation #legal-history #historical-context #judicial-methodology
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