Originalism on the Web
Mike Rappaport

Originalism is being debated on college campuses these days, and not just by the faculty, as these posts from the Harvard Political Review illustrate: Sam Barr Weighing In: The Slippery Originalist. Paul Schied responds to Weighing In: The Slippery Originalist in Weighing In: New Rights vs. Old Rights.

Originalism on the Web
Mike Rappaport

Rick Ungar on Congress Passes Socialized Medicine and Mandates Health Insurance -In 1798. Ungar claims that: The law was not only the first time the United States created a socialized medical program (The Marine Hospital Service) but was also the first to mandate that privately employed citizens be legally required to make payments to pay […]

Originalism on the Web
Mike Rappaport

Eric A. Posner on Why Originalism Is So Popular. Posner, who is something of a rightwing nonoriginalis, emphasizes what I regard as two of the major criticisms of many originalist theories: First, that originalism requires a workable constitutional amendment system, but our system does not produce amendments.  Second, that many nonoriginalist decisions have very strong […]

Originalism on the Web
Mike Rappaport

Scott Lemieux on The Essential Meaningless of the “Original Intent/Original Meaning” Distinction. Gordon S. Wood reviews The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle Over American History by Jill Lepore. Although Wood seems to have the same critical view of (and I would say misunderstanding of) originalism as other historians, he […]