Source: Law & Liberty
by John O McGinnis & Mike Rappaport
“Originalism today is predominant yet divided. Courts regularly invoke original meaning, but originalist scholars still debate what interpretation itself requires. At the center of that division is the interpretation-construction distinction. Interpretation is the process of determining the meaning of a constitutional provision. Construction begins only when that meaning is deemed indeterminate—that is, when it is thought to run out—and the decision must be made on grounds other than the provision’s original meaning.” (08/13/26)