Commentary “Originalism” means applying the Constitution as the Founders understood it. Originalism is just a modern name for how English and American judges and lawyers have read most legal documents for at least 500 years (pdf). By respecting the understanding behind a document, originalism keeps the document alive. By contrast, there’s no simple definition of “living constitutionalism” because “living constitutionalists” differ greatly among themselves. They’re united by dislike of many of the Constitution’s rules and standards, and they all want to adjust the Constitution to serve their political goals. But beyond that, their unity ends: They sometimes have different goals, and they propose different ways of justifying constitutional manipulation. “Living constitutionalism” is a misnomer, because when we abandon a document’s rules and standards, the document dies. In practice, “living constitutionalism” converts our Constitution into a parchment loin cloth to cover political pudenda. Among the inconsistencies of living constitutionalists are claims …
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