Heller: Originalism Triumphant

Make no mistake about it, the Supreme Court's affirmation that the Second Amendment does, indeed, protect individual gun rights was a momentous development in the law. Besides aligning constitutional jurisprudence with the public understanding of America's founding document, the decision also demonstrated the powerful influence of originalism on legal culture in the past 20 years.

As Prof. Dale Carpenter of the University of Minnesota noted recently, it is remarkable that not only the Heller majority, but also the dissenting Justices, relied on historical and textual arguments to support their preferred interpretation of the Second Amendment. Had the Heller case decided in the 70s, both the majority and dissenting opinions would have far more closely resembled Justice Breyer's policy-driven approach.

One man, of course, deserves most of the credit for this revolution in Constitutional Law: Justice Antonin Scalia. Without his perserverence, the Court's sweeping affirmation of the right to keep and bear arms would have been unthinkable. As corny as it sounds, the country owes him its thanks.