For or Against Constitutional Originalism?: A Debate

Live at the National Constitution Center

Stanford University professor Jonathan Gienapp, author of the new book, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique, is joined by Stephen Sachs of Harvard Law School to discuss Gienapp’s challenge to originalists’ unspoken assumptions about the Constitution, the history of originalism as a constitutional methodology, and its role in constitutional interpretation today. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates.

Additional Resources

• Jonathan Gienapp, “Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique” (2024)
• Stephen Sachs and Will Baude, “Originalism and the Law of the Past” (Law and History Review, 2019)
• Michael Stokes Paulsen and Vasen Kesavan, “Is West Virginia Unconstitutional?” (90 Cal L. Rev. 291, 2002)
• William Baude, Jud Campbell, and Stephen Sachs, “General Law and the Fourteenth Amendment” (76 Stanford L. Rev 1185, 2024)
• Jud Campbell, “Four Views of the Nature of the Union” (47 Harvard J. Law & Public Policy 2, 2024)
• Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
• District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
• United States v. Rahimi (2024)

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