College Students on Originalism

Jennifer Kabbany at The College Fix:

Should Supreme Court justices interpret the U.S. Constitution based on what the Founding Fathers meant at the time — or today’s modern mores?

Most college students say the latter, according to a new College Fix poll, meaning the majority of young people today support a Supreme Court that makes decisions based on a living Constitution as opposed to supporting originalism.

The College Fix asked 1,000 college students: “Should future U.S. Supreme Court nominees base their rulings on their understanding of what the U.S. Constitution meant as it was originally written, or should future nominees base their rulings on what they think it means in current times?”

Sixty-nine percent replied “current times,” while 19 percent supported its original meaning. The rest said they are not sure.

The online poll was fielded Sept. 1, roughly two weeks before the nation marks Constitution Day on September 17. The poll was facilitated by College Pulse, a survey and analytics company focused on college students, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.