Originalism

In the context of United States constitutional interpretation, originalism is a principle of interpretation that views the Constitution's meaning as fixed as of the time of enactment. The originalist enterprise, then, is a quest to determine the meaning of the utterances, the meaning of which cannot change except through formal amendment. The term originated in the 1980s but the concept resonates with formalist theory and is a special example of textualism.

Today, originalism is popular among some political conservatives in the U.S., and is most prominently associated with Justice Clarence Thomas, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and the late Robert Bork. However, some liberals, such as Justice Hugo Black and Akhil Amar, have also subscribed to the theory.

Originalism is an umbrella term for interpretative methods that hold to the "fixation thesis"—the notion that an utterance's semantic content is fixed at the time it is uttered. There are two broad sources of meaning that originalists seek: