Georgetown Law Professor: ‘I Support Judge Gorsuch’s Nomination Because He Is an Originalist’

EXCERPT:

SOLUM: "I’m not a conservative. I’m not a Libertarian, I’m not a Republican, but I do believe in originalism. Why is that? It’s because I’m convinced that giving power to judges to override the Constitution to impose their own vision of constitutional law is dangerous for everyone. If you’re a Democrat and you know that the next justice to the United States Supreme Court will be appointed by a Republican President and confirmed by a Republican Senate, would you prefer that an originalist like Judge Gorsuch be appointed or would you prefer a conservative justice who’s a living constitutionalist, who believes that their values are an appropriate ground for modifying or overriding the constitutional text? There’s a final reason that originalism is in the mainstream. The Supreme Court has never claimed the right to override the Constitution. There are cases where the Supreme Court did in fact depart from original meaning, but in all of those cases the Supreme Court either strained to make its decision consistent with the text or ignored the text altogether. I support Judge Gorsuch’s nomination because he is an originalist.”