Legislation & Law of the Political Process, Co-Sponsored by Constitutional Law

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Session Type: Section Programs

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Marriott Grand Ballroom 2

Floor: Lobby Level, North Tower

This panel will address the convergence of constitutional and statutory interpretation in the new Supreme Court, with emphasis on the 2020 and 2021 Terms. Empirical evidence shows that constitutional and statutory interpretation share some basic starting points, namely text. Although originalism is associated with history, originalists claim not to be historians, but seek original public meaning. At the very least, text is the springboard for any historical inquiry. And we have now seen that text or lack of text can determine constitutional outcomes (see, e.g. Dobbs). At the same time, new doctrines have arisen that appear non-textualist, such as the Major Questions Doctrine. We will consider these tensions in depth.