Please join the Center for Constitutional Governance, If/When/How:Law Students For Reproductive Justice, Black Law Students Association, the Columbia ERA Project, and the American Constitution Society for a lunchtime talk on The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back, with author Madiba K. Dennie. Moderated by Professor Olatunde Johnson.

The notion that the Constitution’s meaning is fixed in time and must be interpreted today the same way the public would have understood it when it was originally written was once confined to the fringes of academia. But now that idea—originalism—has been embraced by a Supreme Court stacked with reactionaries hellbent on turning back the clock on civil rights. Madiba K. Dennie’s debut book, The Originalism Trap: How Extremists Stole the Constitution and How We the People Can Take It Back, ditches the so-called “originalist” model of constitutional interpretation and the rights rollback that comes with it for something new and improved that works for all of us. Seamlessly blending scholarship with sass, Dennie’s book is for law-people and laypeople alike. Rigorous yet readable, fierce and fun, this book will galvanize readers to reclaim the Constitution from an extremist Supreme Court and strive towards the ideals of democracy. The Originalism Trap is more than a takedown. It’s a rallying cry.

Lunch will be provided to registered guests.

Madiba K. Dennie is an attorney, columnist, and professor whose work focuses on fostering an equitable multiracial democracy.

Olatunde Johnson is the Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59 Professor of Law at Columbia Law School