This study investigates the extent to which U.S. Supreme Court justices have relied upon originalism in judicial decision-making from 1953 to the present day. 140 majority opinions, concurrences, and dissents from seventy terms are hand-coded for presence of originalism, utilizing a coding scheme grounded in past scholarly understanding of originalist language. Ultimately, reliance upon originalism over time is quantified, and this study's findings indicate an overall increase in originalist rhetoric in Court opinions, particularly during times where originalism's political saliency increased, such as the 1970s and 2010s. This qualitative layer of analysis suggests that the extent to which Court justices rely upon originalism is connected to the political popularity of originalism. This study thus finds further support for the attitudinal model, while providing the first quantitative attack at the framer/legislator intent component of the legal model.

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