At the St. John's Center for Law and Religion Forum, Donald Drakeman: We the People: What the Public Thinks About Originalism. An excerpt:
In 2012, I commissioned a YOUGOV survey of 1000 Americans specifically on the topic of originalism. Most surveys have simply asked voters to choose between the Constitution’s original meaning and a more modern, living Constitution approach. Over time, the public has generally split about 50-50 on that point, with a majority periodically flipping from one side to the other. In my Originalism 2012 Survey, 60% chose the understanding of the Constitution at the time it was originally written, with 40% picking “what the Constitution means in current times.”
But here’s the interesting part. I asked the “current times” respondents what the Supreme Court should do with evidence of the original meaning.” I expected that most would say that it should be either irrelevant or merely historical background. Yet, only 3% said that the Court should ignore it, 18% opted for it to be used only as historical background, and an impressive 79% said that the Supreme Court should “consider it as one of the various factors that should be considered in making the decision.” So, all in, over 90% of Americans think that the original meaning is at least relevant to the Supreme Court’s decision, with half or more considering it determinative.
Posted at 6:22 AM