IF RACIAL DESEGREGATION, THEN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE? ORIGINALISM AND THE SUPREME COURT'S FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT

The Brown Court itself disavowed a theory of originalism in concluding that racially segragated public schools contravene the 14th Amendment, which deemed historical evidence of that Amendment's original meaning "inconclusive." Here, Bunch assesses scholars' reactions to defending Brown's result in originalist terms. He concludes that the implications of originalism for state action mandating racial segregation and state policies against same-sex marriage are not rendered obsolete by the Court's 14th Amendment precedent.