Originalism on the Web
Michael Ramsey
Wesley J. Campbell in the Stanford Law Review: A New Approach to Nineteenth-Century Religious Exemption Cases. From the introduction: In Employment Division v. Smith (1990), the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment does not afford individuals a right to receive exemptions from neutral and generally applicable laws that incidentally burden their exercise of religion. […]
Steve R. Johnson: Supertext and Consistent Meaning
Michael Ramsey
Steve R. Johnson (Florida State University – College of Law) has posted Supertext and Consistent Meaning (State Tax Notes, p. 675, May 25, 2009) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Opponents of textualism as an approach to statutory interpretation sometimes deride it as myopic. The textualist, those opponents contend, puts on blinders, narrowing the perhaps […]
Jeffrey Shulman: Originalism and the Religion Clauses
Michael Ramsey
Jeffrey Shulman (Georgetown University Law Center) has posted The Siren Song of History: Originalism and the Religion Clauses (Journal of Law and Religion, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This essay reviews the following works: The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life. Edited by Daniel L. Dreisbach, Mark David Hall and Jeffrey H. […]
Originalism on the Web
Michael Ramsey
Video – Johnathan O'Neill: Originalism and the Rule of Law Ideal. Note: Professor O'Neill (Georgia Southern Univ., Department of History) is the author of Originalism in American Law and Politics : A Constitutional History (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 2007).
Derek Black: The Contradiction Between Equal Protection’s Meaning and Its Legal Substance
Michael Ramsey
Derek W. Black (Howard University School of Law) has posted The Contradiction Between Equal Protection’s Meaning and Its Legal Substance: How Deliberate Indifference Can Cure It (William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Vol. 15, p. 533, 2006) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article highlights the inherent ambiguities of racial antidiscrimination’s core legal […]
Adam Samaha: Talk About Talking About Constitutional Law
Michael Ramsey
Adam Samaha (University of Chicago – Law School) has posted Talk About Talking About Constitutional Law (U of Chicago, Public Law Working Paper No. 368) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Constitutional theory branches into decision theory and discourse theory. The former concentrates on how constitutional decisions are or should be made, the latter on […]
Stephen M. Griffin: Reconceiving the War Powers Debate
Michael Ramsey
Stephen M. Griffin (Tulane University Law School) has posted Reconceiving the War Powers Debate (Tulane Public Law Research Paper No. 11-06) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Since the Vietnam War congressionalists and presidentialists have been locked into an unceasing controversy on presidential war powers. It has been increasingly difficult for each side to offer […]
Originalism on the Web
Michael Ramsey
At Huffington Post, Geoffrey R. Stone: Justice Scalia, Originalism and the First Amendment
Patrick J. Charles: The Faces of the Second Amendment Outside the Home: History Versus Ahistorical Standards of Review
Michael Ramsey
Patrick J. Charles (Government of the United States of America – Air Force) has posted The Faces of the Second Amendment Outside the Home: History Versus Ahistorical Standards of Review (Cleveland State Law Review, Vol. 60, No. 1, 2012) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In the wake of District of Columbia v. Heller and […]
Originalism in the Blogs
Michael Ramsey
At SCOTUS Blog, a conversation on Originalism and the Supreme Court Tejinder Singh asks to what extent originalism should guide constitutional interpretation in the Supreme Court. He draws an amazingly sophisticated set of responses, including from prominent law professors Geoffrey Stone, Randy Barnett, Lawrence Solum, Jamal Greene, John McGinnis and Mike Rappaport. To me, the most […]