Available From UC Press

Originalism Is Racism interrogates America’s unhealthy obsession with its founding generation by challenging the ascendancy of originalism as the preferred method of constitutional interpretation—both among the justices of the Supreme Court and for significant portions of the American public. The book argues that interpreting the Constitution in accordance with the original intentions or understandings of the founding generation necessarily enshrines and exacerbates racial inequality. For one, originalism perpetuates white supremacy by rejecting the equal human dignity of Black people and other racialized groups and denying them the opportunity to participate in public life on equal terms. It also undermines the abolition of racial oppression by subjecting Black, Brown, and Indigenous people to increased risks of violence and death. In a word, originalism is racism.