textualist

American  

[teks-choo-uh-list] / ˈtɛks tʃu ə lɪst /

noun

1. a person who adheres closely to a text, especially of the Scriptures.

2. a person who is well versed in the text of the Scriptures.

3. Law. a person who adheres to the doctrine that a legal document or statute should be interpreted by determining the relatively objective ordinary meaning of its words and phrases.

   Justice Hugo Black took a literal reading of the Bill of Rights, leading to his reputation as a textualist.

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Etymology

Origin of textualist

First recorded in 1620–30; textual + -ist

Example Sentences

In short, Kagan would have resolved this case as a good textualist, operating within the methodological terms set down by the majority’s opinion, minus the major-questions thumb on the scale.

From Slate

Therefore, Jackson, unlike Kagan, did not resolve the interpretive issue here on the majority opinion’s textualist terms.

From Slate

Instead, Kagan is portraying herself as a defender of a textualist status quo threatened by theories like the major-questions doctrine.

From Slate

She is no longer just questioning the court’s application of textualist theories; she’s rejecting the majority’s very approach to the law.

From Slate

Jackson’s response refutes Gorsuch’s claim that textualist can always divine a law’s true meaning from words alone.

From Slate