The Originalism Blog

The Blog of the Center for the Study of Constitutional Originalism at the University of San Diego School of Law

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Eugene Volokh on Suncor Energy v. Boulder County
Michael Ramsey

At Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh has excerpts (here and here) from an amicus brief he co-authored in Suncor Energy v. Boulder County (pending at the Supreme Court next term). On the First Amendment issue, from the summary of argument: Trying to avoid federal preemption, plaintiffs in this and other climate-change cases have shifted from claims […]

Steven Collis: The New and Confusing Establishment Clause
Michael Ramsey

Steven Collis (University of Texas at Austin School of Law) has posted The New and Confusing Establishment Clause (104 Texas Law Review Online 285 (2026)) (25 pages) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: This essay argues that the many claims percolating among academics and lawmakers that the Supreme Court in recent years has established a […]

Vasan Kesavan: Judicial Appointments Before Vacancies
Michael Ramsey

Vasan Kesavan (independent) has posted Judicial Appointments Before Vacancies (53 Pepperdine L. Rev. 589 (2025)) (103 pages) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: Appointments are about power-presidential power. There is no greater presidential appointment power than the power to appoint federal judges who are expected to serve for life. Judicial appointments allow the President to shape […]

Lawrence Lessig: If Roe, then Buckley
Michael Ramsey

Lawrence Lessig (Harvard Law School) has posted If Roe, then Buckley (33 pages) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: Modern originalism was born as a theory of democratic restraint; it has morphed into something very different. In this essay, I argue that originalists have lost touch with this founding humility, and that nowhere is this costlier […]

Steven Calabresi on Iran and War Powers
Michael Ramsey

At Volokh Conspiracy, Steven Calabresi: President Trump Doesn’t Need Congressional Approval for His Actions as to Iran.  From the introduction: President Donald Trump is taking a lot of heat for the military operations he launched unilaterally as Commander in Chief of the U.S. armed forces against the Iranian pirates/terrorists: (1) striking Iran militarily, (2) closing […]

Ilya Shapiro Reviews “Proclaiming Liberty” by Timothy Sandefur
Michael Ramsey

At Law & Liberty, Ilya Shapiro (Manhattan Institute): Independence, Explained Like It Matters Again (reviewing Proclaiming Liberty: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Declaration of Independence by Timothy Sandefur (Cato Institute 2026)). From the introduction: As America hurtles toward its 250th birthday, we’re hearing a familiar chorus: that the Founding is either a marble monument to […]

Miranda McGowan: Dobbs’s Radical Remaking of the Fourteenth Amendment
Michael Ramsey

Miranda McGowan (University of San Diego School of Law) has posted Dobbs’s Radical Remaking of the Fourteenth Amendment (76 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 1 (2025)) (66 pages) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: The majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center falsely portrays itself as a paragon of judicial restraint.  Dobbs is nothing but radical in its methods and […]

James Cleith Phillips: There’s More to Moore
Michael Ramsey

James Cleith Phillips (Fellow, UC Berkeley School of Law; Schaerr Jaffe) has posted There’s More to Moore (Notre Dame Law Review Reflection (forthcoming 2027)) (13 pages) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: Sometimes the Supreme Court hides things in plain sight. Despite being one of the most highly anticipated election law cases in years, for […]