originalism — Bunk History

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Supreme Court building under dark rainclouds.

Critics of the Administrative State Have a History Problem

If they return governance to its 19th century roots, they will also do away with courts' ability to review agency action.

by Sophia Z. Lee via LPE Project on August 1, 2019

How Did the Constitution Become America’s Authoritative Text?

A new history of the early republic explores the origins of originalism.

by Karen J. Greenberg via The Nation on February 7, 2019

A modern adaption of Howard Chandler Christy’s 1940 painting, “Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States,” with contemporary players on both sides of the judicial contest.

How The Federalist Society is Helping Conservatives Win The Judicial War

It isn’t just about Supreme Court picks. The group’s impact on the law goes much deeper.

by David Montgomery via Washington Post Magazine on January 2, 2019

The Original Constitution of the United States: Religion, Race, and Gender

The Constitution of 2018 is not the Constitution written by the Framers in 1787, and no one should wish otherwise.

by Richard D. Brown via Medium on September 20, 2018

How Conservatives Won the Battle Over the Courts

The right has demonstrated that winning this kind of institutional fight takes years and requires a ruthless disposition.

by Julian E. Zelizer via The Atlantic on July 7, 2018

Pat Buchanan surrounded by balloons at a campaign rally.

Trumpism Before Trump

The popular Trump rhetoric of demonizing immigrants has been procured for decades.

by Calvin Terbeek, Robert L. Tsai via Boston Review on June 11, 2018

Bearing Arms vs. Hunting Bears

The persistence of a mythic second amendment in contemporary Constitutional culture.

by Saul Cornell via The Panorama on June 4, 2018

The Second Amendment Does Not Transcend All Others

Its text and context don’t ensure an unlimited individual right to bear any kind and number of weapons by anyone.

by Garrett Epps via The Atlantic on March 8, 2018

Painting of the signing of the Constitution.

The Gun Argument That’s Not Even Wrong

Why the “Founders’ Intent” doesn’t matter.

by Yonatan Zunger via NewCo Shift on October 2, 2017

How the Fight Over Civil Forfeiture Lays Bare the Contradictions in Modern Conservatism

The brewing conflict between originalism and law-and-order politics.

by Sarah A. Seo via Made By History on July 24, 2017

Executing 'Idiots'

Would the Founders have protected people we execute now?

by Michael Clemente via The Marshall Project on July 27, 2015

Don’t Despair About the Supreme Court

In 2005, Howard Zinn explained why it was naive to depend on the Court to defend the rights of marginalized Americans.

by Howard Zinn via The Progressive on October 21, 2005

Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln’s 1859 Lesson for Some 2028 Democrat

There are parallels between the John Brown raid and the murder of Charlie Kirk. But only one man seized the moment to start changing the course of history.

by Sidney Blumenthal via The New Republic on October 20, 2025

Supreme Court and Donald Trump

The Supreme Court Should Listen to the Founders on Tariffs

James Madison and John Marshall would say Trump’s tariffs are legal.

by Chad Squitieri via Washington Post on October 9, 2025

Collage illustration of a founder, Declaration of Independence, and the body of an enslaved person whose arms are in chains.

Whose Independence?

The question of what Jefferson meant by “all men” has defined American law and politics for too long.

by Annette Gordon-Reed via The Atlantic on October 9, 2025

Clarence Thomas and small sections of the Supreme Court's opinion in Students for Fair Admissions versus Harvard.

Clarence Thomas Accidentally Laid the Groundwork for Reviving Affirmative Action

In trying to shut the door on race-conscious affirmative action, he may have quietly left another affirmative action door wide open.

by Maureen Edobor, Brandon Hogan via Slate on October 7, 2025

Collage of school children, church windows, and a map of Oklahoma territory.

Oklahoma Is Asking the Supreme Court to Ignore History

The Founders had disagreements about the role of religion in America’s public schools, but there was always one line they would not cross.

by Adam Laats via The Atlantic on April 25, 2025

New citizens swearing an oath to the US at a naturalization ceremony.

The Forgotten Meaning of the Citizenship Clause

Universal birthright citizenship was never the original intent.

by Amy Swearer via Law & Liberty on February 13, 2025

The Case Against New York Times v. Sullivan

The malice test is the result of judicial activism and should be rejected by a Court that understands its task as the discovery, not the invention of law.

by Carson Holloway via Law & Liberty on November 1, 2024

Cover of "A Great Disorder" by Richard Slotkin, depicting the outline of the United States made out of cracked stone, overlaid with the American flag.

American Mythology

Is the United States a prisoner of its own mythology?

by Tom Zoellner via Los Angeles Review of Books on October 4, 2024

Political cartoon showing Supreme Court Justice Sutherland handing a woman worker a decision on minimum wage.

The Most Conservative Branch

Stephen Breyer criticizes recent Supreme Court decisions and argues for a more pragmatic jurisprudence.

by Jed S. Rakoff via New York Review of Books on August 29, 2024

Barack Obama speaking in front of a museum exhibit titled "Writing the Constitution."

The Constitution and the American Left

A culture of reverence for the U.S. Constitution shields the founding document from criticism, despite its many shortcomings.

by Aziz Rana via Dissent on July 19, 2024

Cover of "A Great Disorder."

In Need of a New Myth

Myths to explain American history and chart a path to the future once helped to bind the country together. Today, they are absorbed into the culture wars.

by Eric Foner via London Review of Books on June 26, 2024

Side-by-side photographs of Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison.

On Garrison, Douglass, and American Colonialism

Examining how William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass interpreted the nation's relationship with the Constitution.

by Maggie Blackhawk via LPE Project on April 22, 2024

Richard Slotkin.

“A Theory of America”: Mythmaking with Richard Slotkin

"I was always working on a theory of America."

by Kathleen Belew, Richard S. Slotkin via Public Books on April 19, 2024

Gun safety advocates rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019

What the Supreme Court Gets Wrong About the Second Amendment

Government, wrote Alexander Hamilton, should substitute “the mild influence” of the law for “the violent and sanguinary agency of the sword.”

by Dominic Erdozain via Made By History on November 7, 2023

Men wielding muskets.

America’s Original Gun Control

Early in our history, firearms laws were everywhere.

by Robert J. Spitzer via The Atlantic on August 12, 2023

Alexander Hamilton stands guard over the U.S. Treasury building in Washington.

The Constitutional Case for Disarming the Debt Ceiling

The Framers would have never tolerated debt-limit brinkmanship. It’s time to put this terrible idea on trial.

by Thomas Geoghegan via The New Republic on January 6, 2023

Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court holding signs with "Let us pray" and "young women for America."

2022 Saw Conservative Gains on Education Issues. But They May Be Short-lived.

Conservatives’ veneration for the founders opens the door for a secular vision for America’s public schools.

by Adam Laats via Made By History on December 30, 2022

Lithograph of Madame Restell's Mansion

Whose Nation? Reconsidering Abortion as an American Tradition

Although originalists fail to see it, abortion has had a long and storied history for American women.

by Brooke Lansing via The Panorama on October 31, 2022

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