We the People: Originalism and Judge Amy Coney Barrett

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, destined to be the next member of the U.S. Supreme Court, has characterized her approach to constitutional interpretation as a mixture of “originalism” and “textualism.” She has said that the Constitution should be interpreted as it was understood when it was ratified. She shares this approach with her mentor, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon.

The two d...