Panel 1: How Has and How Should the Supreme Court Use Text and History?: Theory, Techniques, and Problems

What role has text and history played in previous debates about constitutional interpretation? What is the relation between original public meaning and historical practice (a/k/a “liquidation”)? Focusing on the Court’s prior term, how have the justices performed when applying textual and historical methods? Are their methods and analysis faithful to the disciplines? What does their application reveal about scholarly disagreements over the role of text and history constitutional interpretation? How should the Court apply text and history?