Were the Founders Originalist?

Originalism has had unparalleled impact as a legal theory. Since Justice Antonin Scalia’s famous claim that the Constitution is “dead, dead, dead,” it has become the dominant theory on the U.S. Supreme Court. At its core, Originalism promises to interpret the Constitution as it was created, not as modern judges wish it to be.

In this episode of Past Precedent, Professor Jonathan Gienapp (Stanford University) argues that in doing so, Originalists are interpreting a constructed Constitution, rather than the one the founders wrote.