Tag: purposivism
Article
The Paradoxical Impact of Scalia’s Campaign Against Legislative History
Stuart Minor Benjamin, Douglas B. Maggs Professor of Law, Duke Law School
Kristen M. Renberg, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science, Duke University & J.D. student, Duke Law School
Beginning in 1985, Judge and then Justice Antonin Scalia advocated forcefully against the use of legislative history in statutory interpretation. Justice Scalia’s position, in line with his textualism, was that legislative history was irrelevant and judges should avoid invoking it. Reactions to his attacks among Justices and prominent circuit judges had an ideological quality, with…
May 2020
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