With the Senate’s recent confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, it is particularly important to understand the different philosophies of these two women. Justice Barrett, like her mentor Antonin Scalia, is an Originalist in how she interprets the Constitution and the law that governs the nation’s entirety. Originalism was explained to us by our recent podcast guest Laura Wolk, senior associate at Kirkland & Ellis, who clerked last year for Clarence Thomas in the U.S. Supreme Court--where she was only the second blind clerk in the Court’s history. Laura was mentored at the University of Notre Dame Law School by now Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, for whom Laura testified at her recent hearings. While many consider Originalism exclusive, leaving out people who were not originally included in the Constitution, or as so narrow as to be useless, because there are so many questions that are not explicitly addressed in the text of the Constitution. Laura, who considers herself an Originalist, notes that Originalism is not ideal and doesn’t give us the best and most just solutions to all questions. But she feels Originalism “is the philosophy that is most faithful to the structure of the government that we set up.”
