The Tea Party Movement and the Perils of Popular Originalism

41 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2011 Last revised: 25 Sep 2015

See all articles by Jared A. Goldstein

Jared A. Goldstein

Roger Williams University School of Law

Date Written: March 4, 2011

Abstract

The Tea Party movement presents something of a curiosity for constitutional theory because it combines originalist ideology and popular constitutionalist methods. Like minotaurs, werewolves, and other half-man, half-animal hybrids of myth and legend, the Tea Party’s hybrid of originalism and popular constitutionalism serves to expose the limitations of both sources upon which it draws. Although originalists assert that interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning would take politics out of constitutional law, the Tea Party movement shows that originalism also provides a powerful political rhetoric. Moreover, while popular constitutionalists assert that democracy would be advanced by empowering the people to effectuate their constitutional understandings through ordinary politics, the Tea Party movement shows that when a popular movement advances a narrow, nationalist understanding of the Constitution, popular constitutionalism can also serve to restrict popular democracy.

Suggested Citation

Goldstein, Jared A., The Tea Party Movement and the Perils of Popular Originalism (March 4, 2011). Arizona Law Review, Vol. 53, p. 827, 2011, Roger Williams Univ. Legal Studies Paper No. 102, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1777466

Jared A. Goldstein (Contact Author)

Roger Williams University School of Law ( email )

10 Metacom Avenue
Bristol, RI 02809
United States

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