constitutional history 
-
6/5/2022
What Would Madison Think of Originalism? Depends When You Asked Him
by Don Fraser
James Madison moved away from a strict constructionist position based on public necessity and acceptance of legislation based in implied powers. Whatever one can say about the originalist legal theory behind the leaked Dobbs opinion, it's not Madisonian.
-
SOURCE: New York Review of Books
4/7/2022
How Rights Went Right
by David Cole
Is an all-or-nothing view of constitutional rights at the root of growing cultural clashes pitting civil rights against the free exercise of religion? A new book suggests alternatives.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
9/13/2021
Teaching the 26th Amendment With The New York Times
by Jennifer Frost
A historian of the 26th Amendment offers a lesson plan for using newspapers as primary sources to teach how young Americans succeeded in lowering the voting age to 18.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
7/21/2021
Richard Pildes: Our Elections are Too Frequent for Democracy to Work
by Richard Pildes
The legal scholar argues that the Framers' belief in frequent Congressional elections has resulted in time for governing being squeezed out by campaigning.
-
1/13/2021
The Problem with a Self-Pardon
by Robert J. Spitzer
It is likely that the issue of a president's ability to pardon himself will be contested in short order. A constitutional scholar of the presidency explains why such an action cannot be countenanced in a society of law.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
1/12/2021
Review: Was the Constitution a Pro-Slavery Document?
by Gordon S. Wood
Gordon Wood says James Oakes's new book examines the dialectical relationship between 19th century interpretations of the Constitution as a pro-slavery and anti-slavery document and argues that that debate steered Lincoln toward a commitment to racial equality as inextricable from abolition.
-
SOURCE: NPR
7/11/2020
Hamilton, In Fiction And History, Is Key To Understanding The Electoral College
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court settled an important question about the function of the Electoral College that elects the U.S. president. But it did not address the pivotal question about the Electoral College.
-
SOURCE: History.com
4/13/2020
How Americans Have Voted Through History: From Voices to Screens
From shouting candidates' names, to hanging chads to electronic scanning, the nature of voting has a long, sometimes bumpy history in the United States.
-
SOURCE: Washington Post
2/24/20
Historians Must Contextualize the Election For Voters
by Joanne B. Freeman
Historian Joanne B. Freeman explains why this information is crucial for getting the election right.
-
SOURCE: Time
1/25/20
As India’s Constitution Turns 70, Opposing Sides Fight to Claim Its Author as One of Their Own
But 70 years after the Indian constitution came into force, left-wing protesters aren’t the only group claiming to be the ideological heirs to Ambedkar.
-
SOURCE: Madman of Chu
12/5/19
The Turley Dilemma
by Andrew Meyer
If we look at Jonathan Turley's argument against impeachment, we can see the outlines of a dilemma that faces the president, the Republican Party, and by extension the entire country.
-
SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal
9/16/19
What Ever Happened to We the People?
by Adam Carrington
"There's more to the the US Constiution than its amendments. Give the preamble some respect."
-
6/2/19
A Brief History of the Theory Trump and Barr Use to Resist Congressional Oversight
by Donald J. Fraser
Unitary executive theory from Alexander Hamilton to Donald J. Trump.
-
SOURCE: Washington Post
2/8/19
Eric Foner Reviews "Separate" by Steve Luxenberg
by Eric Foner
'“Separate' reminds us that our history is not simply a narrative of greater and greater freedom."
News
- One Absurdity of Texas's Divisive Concepts Law? Call to Rename Slave Trade as "Involuntary Relocation"
- 3 Law Profs: Connecting Abortion and Voting Rights at SCOTUS
- The Other Cancel Culture: A University Administration Caves to a Conservative Crusade
- Unserved Warrant for Carolyn Bryant Donham's Arrest in Till Lynching Discovered in Box in Courthouse Basement
- 1989-2001: America's "Lost Weekend" When the Nation Blew its Shot at Peace and Prosperity