Has Originalism Become Second Nature?

Abstract

Abstract: L’originalismo è diventato una seconda natura? – Constitutional theories often have several distinct stages, moving from off the wall to on the wall to second nature.  During this last, distinctive stage, many opponents of a theory persist, but other past opponents come to embrace the basic tenets of the theory, by name, and from within the legal academy, and much debate therefore shifts to disagreement about what types of results that theory should generate rather than the basic legitimacy of the theory.  This brief Symposium Essay addresses the unique features of this “second nature” stage, and applies it to the context of Professor Lawrence Solum’s testimony during the confirmation hearings of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court to examine how originalism has arguably evolved to become second nature in many parts of the academy.

Keywords: Constitutional law, Constitutional interpretation, Originalism.