Opinion: 'Originalism' isn't what you think it is

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'Future historians will be hard-pressed to find that originalism or constitutional democracy had anything to do with the current era. Restraint has kept the nation together... The lack of it today is ripping it apart,' Derek W. Black writes for CNNOpinion

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Derek W. Black is a professor of law, and Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekWBlack. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. Read more opinion articles on CNN.

Many Republicans speak of originalism as though it were a commandment written into the text of the Constitution. They speak reverently of strict obedience to the plain meaning of the Constitution at the time it was written, and to its framers' original intent. But their brand of originalism more closely resembles a tool they use to achieve whatever their current policy goals are.

Derek BlackDemocrats, in contrast, often recoil at originalism as if it were a dirty word. But originalism -- properly understood and applied -- can be just as friendly to Democrats as Republicans. Both parties' misunderstandings do the principle a disservice in a way that may threaten our democracy's future. The most fundamental aspect of our original constitutional system is the restraint of power. Presidential restraint. Congressional restraint. Judicial restraint.

Bash questions DeVos: Why do you not have guidance? 03:44Remember the seven federal judges whom the American Bar Association rated as"not qualified" -- an automatic death knell in the past -- but the Senate confirmed anyway. The Senate has managed feats like these by doing things in weeks that normally take months. And it is doing it again with Judge Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to fill the Supreme Court seat left open by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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Opinion OCCONNELL HAS TO GO, ALONG W/BARRETT.

Opinion October Judicial Surprise: O.W. Holmes newly discovered notebooks. “Life of the Law is not Logic or Religious Dogma; it is human experience.” “The Constitution does not enact moldy Crypto-Capitalist or Crypto-Religious fantasies.”

Opinion The Republicans don't care about America. But it goes way beyond that now. People have been living a lie of a discriminatory sense of false pride ever since our country was founded. Supremacists has always existed since mankind has been on this planet. We are destructive!

Opinion What a joke CNN. We all know Soros pays for all this rioting and division and then you turn it around and is Trump’s fault. Ah! And Russian disinformation. What a lie.

Opinion News organizations like you are ripping this country apart. Stop with the biased reporting and go for the truth. Stop writing what you think will bring top dollar and write the truth.

Opinion Mrs. Barrett proclaims herself as an Originalist(constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding 'at the time it was adopted') I proclaim her as a loyalist, a Trump's loyalist, and nothing else.

Opinion

Opinion In 10 years just like with Nixon and Hitler you are not going to be able to find one person who said they voted for him.

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