BookShared
  • MEMBER AREA    
  • The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back

    (By Madiba Dennie)

    Book Cover Watermark PDF Icon Read Ebook
    ×
    Size 28 MB (28,087 KB)
    Format PDF
    Downloaded 682 times
    Last checked 15 Hour ago!
    Author Madiba Dennie
    “Book Descriptions: A rallying cry for a more just approach to the law that bolsters social justice movements by throwing out originalism—the theory that judges should interpret the Constitution exactly as conservatives say the Founders meant it

    “The greatest trick conservatives ever pulled was convincing the world that originalism exists. This book is vital for understanding why the world sucks right now.”—Elie Mystal, author of Allow Me to Retort

    There is no one true way to interpret the Constitution, but that’s not what originalists want you to think. They’d rather we be held hostage to their “objective” theory that our rights and liberties are bound by history—an idea that was once confined to the fringes of academia. Americans saw just how subjective originalism can be when the Supreme Court cherry-picked the past to deny bodily autonomy to millions of Americans in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Though originalism is supposed to be a serious intellectual theory, a closer look reveals its many inherent faults, as it deliberately over-emphasizes a version of history that treats civil rights gains as categorically suspect. According to Madiba K. Dennie, it’s time to let it go.

    Dennie discards originalism in favor of a new approach that serves everyone: inclusive constitutionalism. She disentangles the Constitution’s ideals from originalist ideology and underscores the ambition of the Reconstruction Amendments, which were adopted in the wake of the Civil War and sought to build a democracy with equal membership for marginalized persons. The Originalism Trap argues that the law must serve to make that promise of democracy real.

    Seamlessly blending scholarship with sass and written for law people and laypeople alike, The Originalism Trap shows readers that the Constitution belongs to them and how, by understanding its possibilities, they can use it to fight for their rights. As courts—and the Constitution—increasingly become political battlegrounds, The Originalism Trap is a necessary guide to what’s at stake and a vision for a more just future.”

    Google Drive Logo DRIVE
    Book 1

    White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy

    ★★★★★

    Thomas F. Schaller

    Book 1

    She Who Knows (She Who Knows #1)

    ★★★★★

    Nnedi Okorafor

    Book 1

    Democracy or Else: How to Save America in 10 Easy Steps

    ★★★★★

    Jon Favreau

    Book 1

    The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America

    ★★★★★

    Elizabeth Dias

    Book 1

    The Message

    ★★★★★

    Ta-Nehisi Coates

    Book 1

    Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind

    ★★★★★

    Annalee Newitz

    Book 1

    The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family

    ★★★★★

    Jesselyn Cook

    Book 1

    The Stardust Grail

    ★★★★★

    Yume Kitasei

    Book 1

    No Name in the Street

    ★★★★★

    James Baldwin

    Book 1

    Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point

    ★★★★★

    Steven Levitsky

    Book 1

    By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land

    ★★★★★

    Rebecca Nagle

    Book 1

    Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

    ★★★★★

    Heather Cox Richardson

    Book 1

    Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism

    ★★★★★

    Stephen Breyer