Thank you Random House for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. No review was required in return for an advance reading copy and no review was promised.
Mr. Book just finished The Originalism Trap, by Madiba K. Dennie.
I had listened to this author on several podcasts talking the book, so I was very glad when I had the opportunity to get an advance copy to review. I was glad I did, as it definitely lived up to my expectations.
The author starts by pointing out that originalism is a nice idea, at least in theory. But, once you spend any time thinking through the issues and the problems it presents, it becomes clear that originalism is far from a neutral way to interpret the Constitution. It is instead nothing more than an attempt to cherry pick history to serve the right-wing justice’s policy desires. As Dennie correctly notes, the Venn diagram between originalism’s results and conservative policy preferences results in a complete overlap.
Dennie immediately starts with the Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs to show how history was cherry picked. Despite the fact that there was no historical evidence of abortion being prohibited at the time of the founding of the country, the court decided to quote a 17th century male chauvinist judge, whose opinions promoted witch burning and spousal abuse as their support to overturn one of the nation’s “super precedents” of Roe.
She then moves on from there to the Bruen decision on guns, in which prominent legal historians have called “embarrassing” and instead of being based on “history, text and tradition”, it was instead based on “fiction, fantasy and mythology.” But, then instead of just limiting the discussion to the ruling itself, the author does a very good job showing the terrible lower court rulings that have followed as the inevitable result of having to follow the “reasoning” of Bruen.
The author accurate sums up originalism by saying, “Originalism observes that white supremacy dominated the country’s past and reasons that it must also dominate the country’s future.” The book makes the strongest possible case that white supremacy is result, and a goal of originalism.
The section on substantive due process is also excellent. The author again shows how originalism is a threat to individual rights. She also again proves that it just perpetuates the white supremacy and the sexism that has dominated American history, especially in the founding era.
The chapter on voter suppression was another great one.
One indication that something is an A+ book is when I make so many highlights of so many great passages that I can’t keep track of how many I have. This book certainly meets that standard.
I give this book an A+, which also means it is inducted into my Hall of Fame. Amazon, Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A+ equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
I have already placed a preorder for the Audible audiobook version, so I will be able to enjoy it again when it is released.
This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews. It will be posted at Amazon when it is released on June 4.
Mr. Book originally finished reading this on May 30, 2024.
