{"id":2801,"date":"2026-06-23T14:17:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/public-policy-journal\/?page_id=2801"},"modified":"2026-06-23T14:17:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:17:35","slug":"statistically-significant-judging-mechanizing-originalism-through-corpus-linguistics-and-ai","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/public-policy-journal\/in-print\/volume-23-issue-2-summer-2025\/statistically-significant-judging-mechanizing-originalism-through-corpus-linguistics-and-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Statistically Significant Judging: Mechanizing Originalism Through Corpus Linguistics and AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In interpreting the U.S. Constitution, accuracy, transparency, and replicability are increasingly important. A recent poll showed that most Americans believe that United States Supreme Court Justices sacrifice impartiality for ideology.\n\t\t<span class='js-footnote footnote'>\n\t\t\t<button type='button' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_2801_1' class='footnote_inline_btn js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-describedby='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_2801_1'>\n\t\t\t\t<sup class='footnote_inline_btn_number'>1<\/sup>\n\t\t\t\t<span id='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_2801_1' class='visually_hide'>Open footnote #1<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t<cite id='abstract_footnote_2801_1' class='footnote_content_cite js-footnote-content'>\n\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_content_number js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_2801_1' tabindex='-1'>1<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap_inner'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='visually_hide'>Footnote #1 content: <\/span>Thomas Beaumont &amp; Linley Sanders, <em>New Poll Shows Majority of Americans Believe Supreme Court Justices Put Ideology over Impartiality<\/em>, PBS NEWS (June 27, 2024, 10:11 AM), https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/nation\/new-poll-shows-majority-of-americans-believe-supreme-court-justices-put-ideology-over-impartiality [https:\/\/perma.cc\/YAC8-WVPW].\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_close_btn_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_close_btn js-footnote-close-btn' aria-label='Back to content'>close<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t That is particularly problematic when a shocking number of Americans \u201cknow literally nothing about the Constitution.\u201d\n\t\t<span class='js-footnote footnote'>\n\t\t\t<button type='button' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_2801_2' class='footnote_inline_btn js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-describedby='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_2801_2'>\n\t\t\t\t<sup class='footnote_inline_btn_number'>2<\/sup>\n\t\t\t\t<span id='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_2801_2' class='visually_hide'>Open footnote #2<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t<cite id='abstract_footnote_2801_2' class='footnote_content_cite js-footnote-content'>\n\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_content_number js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_2801_2' tabindex='-1'>2<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap_inner'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='visually_hide'>Footnote #2 content: <\/span>Chris Cillizza, <em>Americans Know Literally Nothing About the Constitution<\/em>, CNN (Sept. 13, 2017, 4:39 PM), https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/09\/13\/politics\/poll-constitution\/index.html [https:\/\/perma.cc\/724Y-2SP2].\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_close_btn_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_close_btn js-footnote-close-btn' aria-label='Back to content'>close<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t For example, one in three people cannot name a single First Amendment right.\n\t\t<span class='js-footnote footnote'>\n\t\t\t<button type='button' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_2801_3' class='footnote_inline_btn js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-describedby='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_2801_3'>\n\t\t\t\t<sup class='footnote_inline_btn_number'>3<\/sup>\n\t\t\t\t<span id='footnote_btn_text_abstract_footnote_2801_3' class='visually_hide'>Open footnote #3<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t<cite id='abstract_footnote_2801_3' class='footnote_content_cite js-footnote-content'>\n\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_content_number js-footnote-toggle-btn' aria-controls='abstract_footnote_2801_3' tabindex='-1'>3<\/button>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content_wrap_inner'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_content'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='visually_hide'>Footnote #3 content: <\/span><em>Id.<\/em>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class='footnote_close_btn_wrap'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button type='button' class='footnote_close_btn js-footnote-close-btn' aria-label='Back to content'>close<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/cite>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t So, many Americans do not know\u2014and most Americans do not trust SCOTUS to truthfully tell them\u2014what is in this country\u2019s most important governing document. Instead of grounding linguistic interpretation in high-minded, lofty reasoning, many judges now seek to use what lay people understand: numbers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/public-policy-journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2026\/06\/23.2-Simon.pdf\">Continue reading Statistically Significant Judging: Mechanizing Originalism Through Corpus Linguistics and AI<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In interpreting the U.S. Constitution, accuracy, transparency, and replicability are increasingly important. A recent poll showed that most Americans believe that United States Supreme Court Justices sacrifice impartiality for ideology. 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