originalismn.
/əˈrɪdʒn̩l̩ɪz(ə)m/, /əˈrɪdʒn̩əlɪz(ə)m/, /əˈrɪdʒᵻnl̩ɪz(ə)m/, /əˈrɪdʒᵻnəlɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /əˈrɪdʒ(ə)nəˌlɪzəm/, /əˈrɪdʒ(ə)nlˌɪzəm/ The principle or belief that the original intent of an author should be adhered to in later interpretations of a work; spec. (U.S.) judicial interpretation of the Constitution which aims to follow closely the original intentions of its drafters.
ΚΠ
1980 P. Brest in Boston Univ. Law Rev. 60 204 By ‘originalism’ I mean the familiar approach to constitutional adjudication that accords binding authority to the text of the Constitution or the intentions of its adopters.
1983 A. S. Rosenbaum Constitutionalism Introd. 3 It is an irony of the political conservative impulse today, typically associated with some version of ‘originalism’, to prefer a strong chief executive.
1998 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 8 Oct. 17/1 Justice Scalia, an outspoken advocate of textualism and originalism, has derided the Court's efforts to infer a right of reproductive ‘privacy’ from the Constitution's other protections of liberty.
2000 G. E. White Constit. & New Deal i. 23 Although the 1980s versions of originalism tended to be anachronistic, originalist analysis revealed the stark gap between the arrangement of constitutional powers fashioned by the decisions of the Supreme Court in the late 1930s and 1940s and the arrangement contemplated by the framers of the Constitution.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1980