Academic

Balkin on Framework Originalism and Skyscraper Originalism

By Lawrence Solum

Balkin continues his series of posts on originalism.  Here is taste from the latest:

Skyscraper originalism views the Constitution as more or less a finished product (albeit always subject to later Article V amendment). It allows ample room for democratic lawmaking to meet future demands of governance, but this lawmaking is not constitutional construction. It is ordinary law that is permissible within the boundaries of the Constitution. Framework originalism, by contrast, views the Constitution as an initial framework for governance that sets politics in motion and must be filled out over time. The goal is to get politics started and keep it going (and stable) so that it can solve future problems of governance. Later generations have a lot to do to build up and implement the Constitution, but when they do so they must always remain faithful to the basic framework.

This is the seventh in a seires: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on April 08, 2008 (boomark / email).