What role should history play in interpreting the United States Constitution? The theory of constitutional originalism, now ascendant on the Supreme Court, privileges history above all else. It insists that the Constitution should be interpreted today in accordance with its original meaning - what it meant at the time it was adopted. As a result, originalism asks interpreters to look to the distant American past, above all the late eighteenth century when the Constitution was created, in order to figure out what the Constitution means today. This course explores the history of the Constitution's creation and early interpretation from the perspective of the modern debate over originalism. It does so to assess the Constitution's history should shape modern debates over how to interpret the Constitution.
5 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
What role should history play in interpreting the United States Constitution? The theory of constitutional originalism, now ascendant on the Supreme Court, privileges history above all else. It insists that the Constitution should be interpreted today in accordance with its original meaning - what it meant at the time it was adopted. As a result, originalism asks interpreters to look to the distant American past, above all the late eighteenth century when the Constitution was created, in order to figure out what the Constitution means today. This course explores the history of the Constitution's creation and early interpretation from the perspective of the modern debate over originalism. It does so to assess the Constitution's history should shape modern debates over how to interpret the Constitution.
Offered in Winter 2027 at Stanford University.