In Bondi v. VanDerStok, the Supreme Court issued a consequential decision for statutory interpretation. Drawing on law-and-linguistics research, it infused new empiricism into the search for word meanings, introducing a method this Article labels “Linguistic Textualism.” It is incumbent upon the legal community to reckon with Linguistic Textualism, the Article asserts—because if VanDerStok is the future of statutory interpretation, we are in some trouble.
To make that argument, the Article first diagnoses the pathologies of Linguistic Textualism. It chronicles multiple artificial constraints that Linguistic Textualism imposes upon interpreters, including a striking tendency to erase the historical evolution of a statute. This can undermine interpretation of amended statutes, in particular, which now dominate the Court’s docket. Attempting to do better, the Article then develops a competing interpretation of the statute from VanDerStok. Through an increased attention to amendment history, the Article uncovers the untold story of the Gun Control Act of 1968. In so doing, it provides a vivid illustration of why courts should be attentive to the rich, layered nature of statutory law—and it gives a methodological template for how to accomplish that goal.
The result is a comparative interpretive project with numerous insights—both doctrinal and theoretical. It provides a new understanding of the GCA, a statute whose unresolved questions will shape the future of gun control in America. The Article reveals the shortcomings of Linguistic Textualism, an interpretive approach only increasing in prevalence. The Article develops new tools and strategies to better interpret amended statutes—including a proposed “dead-hand canon,” which can resolve the inconsistencies that amendments often produce. And the Article outlines a new principle for assessing interpretive methods—one that offers a useful baseline for interpretive debates. Through these many lessons, the Article aims to help transform VanDerStok into a productive moment for statutory interpretation.
