GMU Law School - Champions of Law & Integrity: Originalism and Chattel Slavery with Professor Zamir Ben-Dan

GMU Law's American Constitution Society, Black Law Students Association, and Muslim Law Students Association welcome you to join us in the third and final installment of Professor Zamir Ben-Dan's lecture series, with this one focusing on orginialism and chattel slavery. Professor Ben-Dan’s scholarship argues that modern originalism is fundamentally flawed because it relies on a "hermeneutic of bad faith" that ignores the intentional, pro-slavery architecture of the Constitution. He contends that by prioritizing the "original public meaning" of a document designed to entrench chattel slavery, the legal movement functionally preserves racial hierarchy and validates a historical framework that excluded Black humanity.

Zoom link: https://gmu.zoom.us/j/96895514410?pwd=JbffmIlBy7EeRmwItXUIMIuEshb7KZ.1