Originalism, as a method for interpreting the United States Constitution, posits that the meaning of the text was fixed and defined at the time of its ratification, reflecting the original public understanding of its provisions. In recent years, a growing number of jurists, legal scholars, and commentators have expressed a renewed affinity for originalist interpretative methods, with a majority of current Supreme Court Justices advocating for, and applying, this approach in many cases.
Despite originalism’s increasing influence in the judiciary and greater attention in the legal academy, relatively few issues of constitutional criminal law and procedure have been thoroughly examined through an originalist lens, either in court opinions or in academic literature. The Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society and the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University are sponsoring a conference that aims to address and explore this significant gap, delving into the application of originalist methodologies to contemporary issues of constitutional doctrine and practice in the criminal justice context.
Participants in this event will engage, through workshops and public panels, in robust and comprehensive exploration of whether and how originalism should be applied to modern criminal justice issues. By fostering a dynamic dialogue among originalist experts as well as jurists and scholars who are skeptical about originalism, at the intersection of originalism and criminal justice, this conference seeks to deepen understandings of both originalist methodologies and modern debates over constitutional criminal law and procedures.
Call for Papers
As part of this conference, we are soliciting papers for a scholarship workshop expected to take place on September 8, 2026.