Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Series

Legal Theory

Constitutional theory

2012

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Law

Faith And Fidelity: Originalism And The Possibility Of Constitutional Redemption, Lawrence B. Solum Jan 2012

Faith And Fidelity: Originalism And The Possibility Of Constitutional Redemption, Lawrence B. Solum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay reviews Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World by Jack Balkin (2011) and Living Originalism by Jack M. Balkin (2011).

Contemporary scholarly debates about originalism and living constitutionalism are filled with claims about the political valence of these two theories. Here are some examples: "Originalism remains even now a powerful vehicle for conservative mobilization. ..." "[L]iving constitutionalism...has been at the core of progressive constitutional thought since the 1970s." "[A]ny reasonably well-informed observer knows that the term 'living Constitution' encodes liberal sympathies, just as originalism encodes conservative ones. ..." "[O]riginalism cannot easily be appropriated to progressive constitutional arguments." …