The Original Debates over Constitutional Interpretation

Today, debate rages over how to interpret the United States Constitution, especially what role history should play in that practice. 

When the generation that adopted the Constitution in the late eighteenth century first interpreted the document, what defined their debates? How do those debates compare to the ones structuring current American constitutional law? 

Join us for a lecture exploring how to read the Constitution through lenses past and present and reflecting on what the creators can teach us about the Constitution in the present moment.

Book sales, signing and coffee reception to follow.

Meet The Speaker

Jonathan Gienapp is Associate Professor of History and Law at Stanford University. His scholarship has largely focused on the history of the U.S. Constitution and its relevance to modern legal debates over its interpretation. His first book, The Second Creation: Fixing the American Constitution in the Founding Era charts how understandings of the U.S. Constitution transformed during the decade following its ratification. Gienapp's most recent book, Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique (Yale University Press, 2024), critiques how the theory of constitutional originalism engages with the historical past. It was awarded the Order of the Coif Book Award from the Association of American Law Schools

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