Below is a round-up of the latest from the Battle for the Constitution: a special project on the constitutional debates in American life, in partnership with The Atlantic.
By Harry Litman, Former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Harry Litman argues that originalism, the theory that the Constitution’s meaning is fixed at the time it—or an Amendment—was ratified, has a tension between adhering to original meaning and original application of the Constitution’s provisions, which shows that the theory is not so clear and determinative as some of its adherents suggest.
By Amanda Frost, Ann Loeb Bronfman Distinguished Professor of Law and Government, American University Washington College of Law
Amanda Frost writes about the attempts by the Trump administration and certain states to exclude noncitizens from the Census or apportionment when drawing districts, and says that doing so would be against the history and purpose of the 14th Amendment.
