textualism

is the idea that one is governed entirely by the text in deciding a case. That's the only thing that is relevant to your decision, not whether the outcome is desirable, not whether legislative history says this or that. But the text of the statute.

CHRIS WALLACE: And we are delighted Justice Scalia has agreed to join us today to talk about it. Justice, welcome to 'Fox News Sunday.' JUSTICE SCALIA: Thank you very much, Mr. Wallace. Glad to be here. WALLACE: You -in your book, you explain your approach to judging, which is called textualism or originalism. What exactly is that' JUSTICE SCALIA: Originalism is sort of subspecies of textualism. Textualism means you are governed by the text. That's the only thing that is relevant to your decision, not whether the outcome is desirable, not whether legislative history says this or that. But the text of the statute. Originalism says that when you consult the text, you give it the meaning it had when it was adopted, not some later modern meaning. So -WALLACE: So, if it was the Constitution written in the 18th century, you try to find what those words meant in the 18th century. JUSTICE SCALIA: Exactly, the best example being the death penalty. I've sat with three colleagues who thought it was unconstitutional, but it's absolutely clear that the American people never voted to proscribe the death penalty. They adopted a cruel and unusual punishment clause at the time when every state had the death penalty and every state continued to have it. Nobody thought that the Eighth Amendment prohibited it.

textualism, n.All

textualism