Many conservative legal activists today purport to be constitutional originalists, meaning they say they follow the original meaning of the Constitution at the time of its adoption. Yet some of those same activists also embrace dodgy legal theories that, when examined in detail, prove to be entirely at odds with constitutional text and history. The Constitution, properly interpreted, does not always support conservative policy preferences.
Yet many progressive legal activists today are quite contemptuous of originalism, dismissing it as a "dangerous fallacy." But if legal progressives keep on rejecting and denouncing originalism, how will they ever be in a position to properly challenge the bogus originalist arguments of conservatives? In other words, why not defeat your enemy on the actual field of battle, rather than just booing from the sidelines?
