Garrett Snedeker’s thoughtful review of my book, The Hollow Core of Constitutional Theory: Why We Need the Framers, concludes by requesting a follow-up essay. In particular, he asks how my call to bring the Framers’ intentions back into the core of constitutional interpretation relates to what Snedeker, Hadley Arkes, and their James Wilson Institute colleagues […]
What Does It Mean to Interpret the Constitution?
For virtually all of Western legal history, when judges interpreted legal texts, their goal was to identify the intent of the lawmaker. For the past 50 years, however, constitutional theorists have shifted their focus away from the Framers and have instead emphasized either the original public meaning or a host of living, common sense, consequentialist, […]
What is the Original Meaning of the Establishment Clause?
In the 1947 Everson case, all nine justices agreed that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson held the key to the meaning of the Establishment Clause, thereby launching a nearly 75–year debate over its original meaning. The historical facts are well established, which means that the arguments revolve around the question of which facts are the […]
