Is the current Supreme Court an originalist court? Should it be? Professor Mark O. de Girolami editorial new york times He argued that the current Supreme Court has adopted a traditionalist approach to constitutional interpretation, and that this is a good thing. It's worth reading. The flavors are:
This court is traditionally considered to be originalist. However, it is often more usefully and accurately understood as what I call „.“traditionalist„: Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh in various areas of jurisprudence, including abortion, gun rights, free speech, religious freedom, and the right to confront witnesses in court. The Court it leads points to the time and once again, the meaning of the Constitution and the law are often determined not only by the original meaning of its words but also by the persistence of political and cultural practices.
The fact that the Supreme Court appears to be moving toward an open embrace of traditionalism should be widely celebrated. Indeed, the court's traditionalism has played a role in many decisions popular with political conservatives, such as Dobbs's 2022 overturn. Roe vs. Wade. But it's not a crude partisan technique. President Obama's nominee, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, used this phrase to: decision For the court and President Trump's nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, expressed some degree of skepticism about it.
Traditionalism may not be partisan, but it is political. It reflects an overtly nonpartisan belief that government should seek to understand and promote the common life of most Americans. The Supreme Court has relied on traditionalism to good effect for decades, but the justices have rarely acknowledged it explicitly. Traditionalism requires that our legal system respond democratically, have concrete (rather than abstract) ways of thinking, and respect American values that are timeless and shared across the country. It should be supported by everyone who believes in it. . . .
Traditions in law and other fields reveal basic facts of human life. That is, we want to unite ourselves in admiring ways of living and behaviors that endured for centuries before we were born, and that we hope will continue long after we are gone. . At its core, this is the essence of constitutional traditionalism. The desire for excellence has been understood for generations as a human achievement in many areas of life that serves the common good of our society.
here Here is a link to the whole thing.