Though that camp remains ascendant in the academy, new judicial appointments will ensconce
textualism and revive originalism in the judiciary.
Scalia propounded constitutional "originalism" (the idea, refined by Scalia, that the text of the constitution should be read in terms of the "public meaning" it had when adopted), Chevron deference (the idea that the executive branch should get to interpret its statutory powers when they were ambiguous) and statutory
textualism (a refusal to pay attention to the political history of a law, combined with a relatively literal reading of its meaning).
Because Chief Justice Roberts avoided explicit reference to legislative purpose and legislative history--two hallmarks of the "bad old days" before the rise of Scalian
textualism (10)--he was constrained to generate ambiguity through textual analysis.
When one thinks about Justice Antonin Scalia's legacy, it is tempting to focus on his role in promoting statutory
textualism and constitutional originalism.
As is well known, Nino's theory of statutory interpretation was
textualism.
By now Clinton would have nominated a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, someone whose judicial philosophy would be as far away from Scalia's originalism and
textualism as the East is from the West.
Lesser ends with a meditation at a methodological crossroads, finding neither the New Bibliography nor the current New
Textualism sufficient to solve the problems that the 1603 quarto proposes.
148) and
Textualism as "the particular form of Originalism that holds that meaning resides in the plain words of the legal text" (p.
I want to do so by first providing a brief overview of Justice Scalia's devotion to the rule of law and his legacy in constitutional and statutory interpretation where he was a powerful advocate for originalism and for
textualism.
Constitutional supremacy implies strict
textualism as a controlling method of constitutional interpretation, not subjective judicial discretion.
Chapter 6 reviews and critiques at length five prominent theories of judicial review:
Textualism, Public Understanding Originalism, Democratic Deference/Popular Constitutionalism, Perfectionism/Living Constitutionalism, and Minimalism.
Scalia's other ideological commitment was to
textualism, the idea that the actual words must be interpreted in a kind of fundamentalist manner.
