Progressive Originalism and the New Canon Wars.

This essay evaluates how three recent books—Kermit Roosevelt III's *The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America's Story* (2022), Cass R. Sunstein's *How to Interpret the Constitution* (2023), and D. Berton Emerson and Gregory Laski's edited collection *Democracies in America: Keywords for the Nineteenth Century and Today* (2023)—engage with the concept of progressive originalism, a constitutional interpretation method inspired by civil rights activists that seeks to reinterpret the Constitution through a more inclusive historical lens. Roosevelt and Sunstein challenge traditional originalist views centered on the First Founding, with Roosevelt advocating for a broader public and a focus on the Reconstruction era, while Sunstein adopts a policy-based approach informed by contemporary realities. In contrast, *Democracies in America* offers a multidisciplinary and pluralistic perspective, emphasizing the importance of diverse voices—including literary and Indigenous contributions—in constitutional interpretation. The essay highlights the strengths and limitations of each work, noting their shared goal of reconstructing constitutional understanding to better reflect democratic and egalitarian ideals.