Brian Fitzpatrick, a law professor at Vanderbilt Law School, proposed the creation of academic centers at flagship public universities dedicated to the originalist study of state constitutions. In a commentary published Friday, Fitzpatrick suggested these centers would serve as a legal counterpart to the civics institutes recently established by several state legislatures. The proposal seeks to provide judges with historical research and primary source databases to assist in interpreting state constitutional law.
The proposal follows a trend where legislatures in Republican-led states have created civics institutes at state universities to teach American history and Western philosophy. While some law faculty members currently teach in these institutes, Fitzpatrick noted that their primary focus remains on liberal arts students rather than legal scholarship. He argued that while originalism—a legal theory focusing on the original understanding of a text—is growing in federal and state judiciaries, there is a lack of scholarship regarding state constitutions.
Under the proposed model, these centers would hire faculty to conduct historical research, publish applied originalism studies, and digitize primary sources into searchable databases. Fitzpatrick suggested that universities could eventually require law students to take state constitutional law as part of their core curriculum. He noted that existing centers at Georgetown and the University of San Diego focus on the federal Constitution, leaving a vacancy for state-level research.
The scale of this proposal involves state university systems, particularly in states that have already funded civics institutes. While specific dollar amounts for these new legal centers were not reported, existing civics institutes at schools like the University of Florida and Ohio State University have already received state resources for faculty and curricula. For law students, this could result in new graduation requirements and a shift in the availability of faculty who specialize in originalist methodology.
The long-term impact involves the composition of law school faculties and the development of state legal precedents. Fitzpatrick noted that originalists currently make up a small percentage of constitutional law professors despite the theory's prominence in the judiciary. By creating dedicated centers, states could influence "viewpoint diversity" in academia and provide a steady supply of originalist research for use in litigation. The next steps for this proposal depend on whether state legislatures or university administrations choose to adopt and fund the model in future budget cycles.