Aderson Francois & Helen Hershkoff: Pennoyer, Due Process, and the End of Reconstruction
Michael Ramsey
Aderson Francois (Georgetown University Law Center) & Helen Hershkoff (New York University School of Law) have posted Pennoyer, Due Process, and the End of Reconstruction (NYU Law Review, forthcoming) (85 pages) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In 1877, the United States withdrew the last of its troops from the states of the former Confederacy and returned […]
Samuel Bray et al.: Prescribing Religion
Michael Ramsey
Samuel L. Bray (University of Chicago Law School), Nathan S. Chapman (University of Georgia School of Law) & Brent Strawn (Duke University) have posted Prescribing Religion: The Ten Commandments on Classroom Walls (80 pages) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Several states have recently enacted laws requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools. This Article […]
Christopher Wolfe on Charles Thach on Executive Power
Michael Ramsey
At Law & Liberty, Christopher James Wolfe (St. Thomas – Houston, Political Science): Dispatching Humphrey’s Executor. From the introduction: For most court watchers, the blockbuster case of 2026 was the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara. But for teachers of National Powers cases like myself, the blockbuster was Trump v. Slaughter on the president’s power to remove a […]
Elias Neibart: Lawyer’s Meaning is Lawful Meaning
Michael Ramsey
Elias Neibart (Law Clerk to Judge Steven J. Menashi, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 2025–26) has posted Lawyer’s Meaning is Lawful Meaning (56 pages) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Many textualists think that, when we interpret texts, our goal is to uncover their “ordinary meaning.” We have to put ourselves in […]
Bray & Burset, “Why General Law?”
Charles F. Capps
Sam Bray and Christian Burset have posted a new paper, “Why General Law?” Here is the abstract from SSRN: It has been almost a century since the Supreme Court said in Erie, “There is no general federal common law.” But the general law is in the middle of a controversial revival. Instead of siding with […]
Jonathan Goldstein: The Militia of the Sea
Michael Ramsey
Jonathan Goldstein (University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School) has posted The Militia of the Sea: The Marque and Reprisal Clause as Textual Proof of Private Heavy-Arms Ownership at the Founding (54 pages) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Courts and litigants increasingly say the Second Amendment reaches only the weapons one person can carry. The […]
Two New Bloggers: Charlie Capps and Ryan Snyder
Mike Rappaport
We are happy to welcome two new bloggers to the Originalism Blog: Charlie Capps from the Law School at Arizona State and Ryan Snyder from the University of Missouri School of Law. Both Charlie and Ryan are excellent scholars, and we are very happy that they have agreed to join us. Charlie’s first post is […]
McGinnis & Rappaport on Originalism’s Better Meaning
Charles F. Capps
At Law & Liberty, John McGinnis and Mike Rappaport argue that “[t]he Constitution’s meaning does not run out merely because the evidence is contested.” They argue that one of the contemporaneous rules governing the interpretation of legal instruments such as the Constitution is what we call the 51–49 rule. When the evidence is close—when it […]
Glenn Reynolds Reviews Carson Holloway’s “No Liberty to Libel”
Michael Ramsey
At Law & Liberty, Glenn Reynolds: Sullivan Revisited. From the introduction: Is New York Times v. Sullivan, the case in which the Supreme Court sharply limited libel suits by public officials—a group later expanded to “public figures”—now on shaky ground? Not long ago that would have been unthinkable. But nowadays, particularly in the wake of a […]
Elias Neibart on the Birthright Citizenship Dissents
Michael Ramsey
At Civitas Outlook, Elias Neibart (Harvard Law School JD ’25): Originalism and the ‘Barbara’ Dissenters. From the introduction: This essay is not about whether the Court [in Trump v. Barbara] got the case right or wrong. Instead, it addresses a recent methodological criticism of the Barbara dissents—most notably Justice Kavanaugh’s dissent in part. Everyone agrees that […]