Originalism (Scalia/Gorsuch strand)
textualism & original public meaning, 1986–present

The originalism framework — Constitution interpreted according to its original public meaning, with judicial neutrality as a methodological commitment — became the dominant conservative legal-philosophy tradition after Scalia's appointment in 1986 and was institutionalized through Federalist Society legal scholarship and the modern judicial nomination process. Cornyn matches originalism on doctrine and methodology: his Senate Judiciary Committee role in the confirmations of Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett is direct Federalist-Society-tradition work, and his clean process integrity satisfies the textualist commitment to neutral methodology that originalism rests on. Paxton wins points on substantive doctrine (Second Amendment, Dobbs, federalism), but the textualist commitment to *rules over standards*, neutral application, and process integrity is in genuine tension with Paxton's documented forum-shopping practices, which treat the legal process as a means to predetermined outcomes — exactly what the Scalia framework was built to oppose.