• Originalism is a theory of constitutional interpretation that relies on the “original public meaning” of the Constitution when it was enacted.
• Originalism is marketed as fair and free from favor or prejudice, but its effects are not and will not be fair at all.
• The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently relied on originalism in United States v. Rahimi, a case about a law restricting the gun rights of domestic-violence offenders.
• The court concluded that the Second Amendment was violated by the law, because the Founders did not mention women, who are disproportionately victimized by domestic violence.
• The presence of a gun in a domestic-violence situation increases the risk of femicide by more than 1,000 percent.
• The Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen announced a strict new originalist standard for evaluating the constitutionality of laws regulating guns.
• The Fifth Circuit rejected the government’s historical analogues for the statute at issue in Rahimi, because the law disarmed citizens for reasons other than the brazen enforcement of white supremacy.
• Originalism limits who gets to be a part of “our” and who is entitled to the Constitution’s rights and protections, and it makes false claims of objectivity to obscure oppression.
Published February 9, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Madiba Dennie’s original post Originalism Is Going to Get Women Killed