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Can Originalism Survive Jonathan Gienapp?
Colby, Thomas B.
Colby, Thomas B.
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Abstract
Jonathan Gienapp’s Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique1 is a tour de force—among the most important books published in the field of constitutional law in a generation. Deep, sophisticated, and tremendously well written, it poses what might well be the stiffest challenge to the originalist project to date. Unlike some other historians who have waded into the constitutional theory debates, Gienapp displays a thorough mastery of the originalist literature; he understands originalism deeply and engages originalist arguments on their own terms. And what he has to say about them—what the history that he so carefully marshals has to say about them—is potentially devastating.
The question now is whether originalism is capable of returning serve.