Originalism's Promise

Lee J. Strang is John W. Stoepler Professor of Law and Values at the College of Law, University of Toledo, Ohio. In 2015, Professor Strang was a visiting scholar at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and in 2016 he was appointed to the Ohio Advisory Committee of the US Commission on Civil Rights. The University of Toledo, Ohio awarded Professor Strang its Outstanding Faculty Research and Scholarship Award in 2017. During the 2018–19 academic year, Professor Strang was a visiting fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University, New Jersey.

• Introduction; Part I. A Description of Originalism: 1. A brief history of originalism in American constitutional interpretation; 2. The constitutional communication model of originalism; Part II. Originalism is the Best Explanation of our Existing Constitutional Practice and the Most Normatively Attractive Theory of Constitutional Interpretation: 3. Originalism is the best explanation for our existing constitutional practice; 4. Originalism best advances Americans' human flourishing: the law-as-coordination account of originalism; 5. Conclusion; Index.

'Lee J. Strang has provided us with a fresh new explanation and defense of an approach to constitutional interpretation that emphasizes the need for fidelity to original meaning. Unusually, he has built a bridge between originalist theory and modern natural law theory that engages with important ideas in the philosophy of law as well as constitutional theory. A formidable piece of scholarship that deserves close scrutiny.' Keith E. Whittington, Princeton University, New Jersey