I have trouble with Originalists. I had trouble understanding Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Antonin Scalia . Now I have trouble understanding Judge Amy Coney Barrett. I am certainly less than thrilled by the Republican rush to confirm Judge Barrett to the Supreme Court.

For more on my views on Justice Neil Gorsuch see Are women people ? – legally speaking.

For more on Justice Antonin Scalia see Are you smarter than a Supreme Court justice. This was written in 2011 and is a explanation of why I think the 14th Amendment applies to women although Justice Scalia disagrees. This is the text of the relevant section:

14th Amendment
Amendment XIV
Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

What do you think? I came down on the side of “all people” meaning all people. Justice Scalia thought “all people” meant all men since he didn’t think the legislators of 1868 would think the amendment applied to women. What would Judge Amy Coney Barrett think?

I think it hard and error-prone to guess what people meant a long-time age. That is my problem with originalists such as Judge Amy Coney Barrett.