If you describe yourself as a liberal or a progressive, that probably means you have a low opinion of originalism, the school of constitutional thought that is closely identified with the conservative legal movement. The prominent liberal law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, for instance, undoubtedly spoke for many when he denounced originalism as a "dangerous fallacy" that only serves to mask results-oriented judging by the right. "Originalist justices pretend to be doing something different," Chemerinsky has argued, "but they are just as likely to impose their values and views as non-originalist ones."
However, like it or not, originalism is currently the theory to beat in constitutional cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, which is composed of four self-described originalists (Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett), plus two others (Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito), who will sign on to ostensibly originalist decisions while disavowing the label for themselves.
