Saikrishna Prakash: A Fool for the Original Constitution
Michael Ramsey
In the current online issue of the Harvard Law Review Forum, Saikrishna Prakash (Virginia): A Fool for the Original Constitution (130 Harv. L. Rev. F. 24 (2016) (responding to Jamal Green, The Age of Scalia) (noted here). Here is the introduction (footnotes omitted): I confess that Justice Antonin Scalia was one of my heroes. He […]
Jamal Green: The Age of Scalia
Michael Ramsey
In the current issue of the Harvard Law Review, Jamal Greene (Columbia): The Age of Scalia (130 Harv. L. Rev. 144 (2016). Here is the introduction (footnotes omitted): How does an originalist and a textualist, dropped in the middle of a Kulturkampf, branded a sophist and a bigot by his detractors, grow up to have […]
Richard Primus: The Constitutional Constant
Michael Ramsey
Richard Primus (University of Michigan Law School) has posted The Constitutional Constant (Cornell Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: According to a conventional view of the Constitution as a precommitment strategy, constitutional rules must remain fixed over time in order for the Constitution to do its work. In practice, however, constitutional […]
Neil Siegel: The Distinctive Role of Justice Samuel Alito
Michael Ramsey
Neil Siegel (Duke University School of Law) has posted The Distinctive Role of Justice Samuel Alito: From a Politics of Restoration to a Politics of Dissent (Yale Law Journal Forum, Vol. 126, p.164 (2016) ) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Justice Samuel Alito is regarded by both his champions and his critics as […]
William Baude & Stephen Sachs: Originalism’s Bite
Michael Ramsey
William Baude (University of Chicago Law School) and Stephen Sachs (Duke University School of Law) have posted Originalism’s Bite (forthcoming, Green Bag 2d) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Is originalism toothless? Richard Posner seems to think so. He writes that repeated theorizing by "intelligent originalists," one of us happily included, has rendered the […]
Stephanos Bibas: Justice Scalia’s Originalism and Formalism
Michael Ramsey
Stephanos Bibas (University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted Justice Scalia’s Originalism and Formalism: The Rule of Criminal Law as a Law of Rules on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Far too many reporters and pundits collapse law into politics, assuming that the left–right divide between Democratic and Republican appointees neatly explains politically liberal versus […]
Jeremy Christiansen: Originalism: The Primary Canon of State Constitutional Interpretation
Michael Ramsey
Jeremy Christiansen (independent) has posted Originalism: The Primary Canon of State Constitutional Interpretation (Georgetown Journal of Law & and Public Policy, forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Given the reach of federal constitutional law and the attention the topic garners in law reviews, law schools, and general popular discourse, a certain degree of […]
David Bernstein:The Courts and Tradition
Michael Ramsey
David Bernstein (George Mason University - Antonin Scalia Law School) has posted The Courts and Tradition: A Begrudging Respect on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This essay discusses the role of tradition in American common law and constitutional law. With regard to common law, the essay argues that American common law as interpreted by the judiciary has […]
Ian Bartrum: Wittgenstein’s Poker
Michael Ramsey
Ian Bartrum (University of Nevada School of Law) has posted Wittgenstein's Poker: Contested Constitutionalism and the Limits of Public Meaning Originalism on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The last two decades have seen an explosion in scholarship exploring the intersection between linguistic indeterminacy (usually vagueness), as analyzed within the philosophy of language, and legal […]
Amy Coney Barrett and John Copeland Nagle: Congressional Originalism
Michael Ramsey
Amy Coney Barrett (Notre Dame Law School) and John Copeland Nagle (Notre Dame Law School) have posted Congressional Originalism (University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, forthcoming 2016) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Precedent poses a notoriously difficult problem for originalists. Some decisions – so-called super precedents — are so well baked into […]