Document Type
Book Review
Abstract
This essay reviews the new book, Against Constitutional Originalism by Professor Jonathan Gienapp. It shows how this important book complicates the legal theory of originalism and its understanding of the Constitution. Gienapp convincingly shows that Founding-era Americans had a very different understanding of the nature of constitutions—what they are and how they worked. The conception of the Constitution that feels natural to modern Americans actually developed gradually in the decades and centuries after the Founding and was not the original meaning. Gienapp contends that this creates foundational problems for the originalist approach to Constitutional interpretation. It exposes the fundamental misunderstanding that strikes at the heart of originalism, showing it is not the objective recovery of the real Constitution it purports to be.
Recommended Citation
Timothy Smith, Book Review, Jonathan Gienapp, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique, 17 ConLawNOW 25, 2025.