From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: Revitalizing the Federal Courts. Here is the introduction:
President Trump is far from a shoo-in for re-election, but win or lose in 2020 his legacy already includes advancing a new generation of highly professional, constitutional federal judges. Working with the Federalist Society on selecting nominees, and with Mitch McConnell leading a largely unified Republican Senate on confirmations, Mr. Trump is reshaping the judiciary to protect fundamental liberties and the original meaning of the Constitution.
And in conclusion:
A new era of originalism in the courts should be good for the law, and for the public reputation of the judiciary as nonpartisan interpreter of the Constitution. Such an era may even be good for progressives, who will have to win their arguments the old-fashioned way—via political debate and elections.
Two fairly obvious thoughts: it further illustrates the mainstreaming of originalism that the Journal celebrates the new judges specifically as originalist judges. And whatever one thinks of the campaign to seat specifically originalist judges, the success of that campaign means that originalist arguments will have increasing importance for both lawyers and legal academics — and so law professors will need to learn how to make (and how to teach people to make) originalist arguments.
Posted at 6:41 AM