Tenth Amendment Center: Was Justice Scalia an Old Originalist?
...from Tenth Amendment Center One of the standard distinctions these days is between the old originalism and new originalism. While different people define the distinction a little bit differently, I define the old originalism as having two essential characteristics: using “original intent” to determine the original meaning of a provision and a belief that significantly constraining judges is essential to the task of originalism. The newer originalisms – I use the term “newer originalisms” rather than the “new originalism” because new versions of originalism differ from one another – have abandoned these two characteristics. The newer originalisms tend to focus on the original public meaning – focusing on a more textual than intentionalist approach. And the newer originalisms no longer hold (or act like) significantly constraining judges is essential. If the original meaning is permissive – if it is unclear, vague, or delegates power to judges – then that is the original meanin