Continuing a New Year's tradition…
1. The Supreme Court decides NLRB v. Noel Canning (the recess appointments case), with a fairly non-originalist majority and a strongly originalist 4-Justice concurrence. A win for originalism? It depends on whom you ask. Good news: the majority cites the amicus brief of originalist scholars; bad news: it cites the brief as an example of an argument it is rejecting; consolation: Mike Rappaport's 2005 article The Original Meaning of the Recess Appointments Clause is cited multiple times by the concurrence.
2. The "positive turn" in originalism scholarship takes shape in important papers and commentary by Stephen Sachs (here and here) and Will Baude. The idea (to oversimplify just a little): originalism is the law. Mike Rappaport is not persuaded.
3. The Supreme Court decides Bond v. United States (the chemical weapons case), with the majority avoiding the interesting constitutional questions but with much originalism in concurrences by Justices Scalia and Thomas (most of which I disagree with see here [on Thomas] and here [on Scalia]).
4. Kurt Lash publishes The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship (Cambridge Univ. Press), and blogs about it at Volokh Conspiracy. Chris Green has a lot to say on this blog in response.
5. President Obama's decision not to enforce various laws puts the President's non-enforcement discretion at the top of the discussion list, with substantial originalist overtones. (A sample here, and more here). (Maybe originalism really is the law). Zachary Price (rightly) gets some time in the spotlight.
6. Philip Hamburger publishes Is Administrative Law Unlawful? (Univ. of Chicago Press) and becomes an unlikely media star. (Adrian Vermeule answers "No.")
7. Harvard Law School launches a speaker series named after Justice Scalia; Judge Easterbrook is the first speaker.
8. Zivotofsky v. Kerry (the Jerusalem passport case, granted review by the Supreme Court in April and argued in November) prompts originalist-oriented commentary from various perspectives, including from Ryan Scoville, me, Jack Goldsmith, and (at the National Constitution Center) Eugene Kontorovich and me.
9. The President orders air strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, prompting further discussion of presidential war powers in a very complex context (and here, and even more here, and here – proving that I am not sure what to think).
10. Scholars gather in San Diego for USD's Fifth Annual Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation conference on originalism works-in-progress; many of the same people reconvene a week later for the Stanford Constitutional Law Center's conference on "The Role of History in Constitutional Law."
Honorable mention: Leading Canadian originalists Grant Huscroft and Bradley Miller get judicial posts; Will Baude and Eric Posner teach a course on originalism at the University of Chicago Law School and post online back-and-forth commentary; a play called "The Originalist" (about Scalia) is performed; Bruce Allen Murphy's unfavorable biography of Scalia is poorly received (see also here, and also here, and here, and also here – does this seem like piling on?); the Supreme Court agrees to hear the Arizona redistricting case (asking the meaning of "legislature"); and John Manning publishes The Means of Constitutional Power in the Harvard Law Review, with commentary from Will Baude.
Posted at 6:46 AM