Question

The jurisprudence of statutory interpretation in the United States has largely bifurcated—and subsequently fragmented—into several distinct methodological camps over the past century. Each school of thought is defined not merely by the interpretive tools it champions, but crucially by the specific evidentiary sources or philosophies it explicitly excludes from consideration.

Textualism, which gained significant traction in the late twentieth century, anchors its methodology on the plain, public meaning of the statutory language at the time of enactment. Because textualists view the final written law as the sole legitimate product of the arduous constitutional processes of bicameralism and presentment, they explicitly reject the consideration of legislative history. Floor debates, committee reports, and sponsor statements are deemed by textualists to be unreliable, authoritative illusions that never received the formal vote of the legislature.

In contrast, Intentionalism seeks to faithfully execute the actual historical will of the enacting legislature. To this end, intentionalists eagerly mine the very legislative history that textualists discard. However, traditional intentionalists firmly draw the line at evolutionary interpretations; they vehemently reject the dynamic approach of adapting statutes to align with contemporary societal values, insisting that a statute's meaning is firmly calcified at the moment of its passage.

Purposivism, while similar to intentionalism in its willingness to look beyond the text, operates on a higher level of abstraction. Rather than seeking the specific historical intent of a past Congress, purposivists ask what objective policy goal a hypothetical 'reasonable legislature' was attempting to achieve. Consequently, purposivists explicitly exclude reliance on the subjective, idiosyncratic psychological states or the micromanaged historical expectations of individual drafters, preferring an objective construction of legislative aims.

Finally, Pragmatism eschews rigid, foundationalist theories altogether, instead synthesizing various tools—text, intent, purpose, and practical consequences—in a context-dependent manner to achieve the most sensible judicial outcome. Yet, even pragmatism has its strict boundary: pragmatists explicitly do NOT accept the concept of a methodological absolute hierarchy. They refuse to commit, in the abstract, to any single interpretive tool as universally trumping all others, maintaining that the weight given to any one factor must remain fluid across different cases.

Based on the passage above, match each theory of statutory interpretation to the methodological approach or principle that it explicitly does NOT endorse.