Let’s Talk About Text

Some progressive scholars and advocates have long urged that progressives take up the mantle of textualism, arguing that the text, history, and structure of the Constitution lead to progressive results. This approach may meet with more support in the coming years as progressive litigators, faced with an increasingly conservative federal judiciary, seize upon originalist and textualist arguments in the hope of winning cases. But some scholars and advocates contend that to concede any ground to conservative interpretive methodology is to ignore its fundamental falsehoods and forsake important constitutional interests. Is there a danger in signing on to a textualist or originalist approach to constitutional interpretation? How should progressives reconcile these arguments?

SPEAKERS
Hon. Robert Pratt, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa; Moderator
John Mikhail, Professor of Law and Agnes N. Williams Research Professor; Associate Dean for Research and Academic Programs, Georgetown University Law Center
Victoria Nourse, Ralph V. Whitworth Professor in Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Jed Shugerman, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Robert Tsai, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Elizabeth Wydra, President, Constitutional Accountability Center

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