Lana Birbrair reviews Constitutional Originalism: A Debate by Robert W. Bennett and Lawrence B. Solum: Should the Constitution Respond to Change? Two legal scholars debate opposing answers in a new book.
Most notable: Birbrair's claim that former Stanford Law School dean Paul Brest "coined the term 'originalism.'" Is this true? Anyone?
UPDATE: Christopher Green (Univ. of Mississippi) writes to confirm that Paul Brest appeared to coin the term in Brest's classic article The Misconceived Quest for the Original Understanding, 60 B.U. L. Rev. 204, 204 (1980) (“By ‘originalism’ I mean the familiar approach to constitutional adjudication that accords binding authority to the text of the Constitution or the intentions of its adopters”), and that Green's searches haven't turned up any earlier use. I'll take it as settled, then.
BONUS QUESTION: who first coined the term "non-originalism"?
Posted at 7:00 AM