> The problem is that originalism attempts to make lawyers into historians
So does textualism, and while lots of people accuse judges of having different philosophies, most (in the US; there are other judicial Philosophy that exist) of them (at least, in terms of how they justify decisions) are originalist, textualist, or somewhere in between.
Most of the complaints really are not about originalism vs. other philosophies, it's about people with a particular ideological bias (primarily, right-wing) in how they tend to see original intent accusing people who see the intent differently of not being originalist (left-leaning observers do also
complain about right-leaning “originalist” judges acting in bad faith, but don't tend to frame it as being about originalism as a virtue and deviation as a vice.) I mean, none of the people on the right praising originalism and raging against judges for not being sufficiently originalist were upset at Scalia, who explicitly and firmly rejected originalism in favor of strict textualism.
So does textualism, and while lots of people accuse judges of having different philosophies, most (in the US; there are other judicial Philosophy that exist) of them (at least, in terms of how they justify decisions) are originalist, textualist, or somewhere in between.
Most of the complaints really are not about originalism vs. other philosophies, it's about people with a particular ideological bias (primarily, right-wing) in how they tend to see original intent accusing people who see the intent differently of not being originalist (left-leaning observers do also complain about right-leaning “originalist” judges acting in bad faith, but don't tend to frame it as being about originalism as a virtue and deviation as a vice.) I mean, none of the people on the right praising originalism and raging against judges for not being sufficiently originalist were upset at Scalia, who explicitly and firmly rejected originalism in favor of strict textualism.