Check out Scotus Blog’s March Madness tournament: Make your picks here. I’m taking John Marshall all the way....
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Antonin Scalia
Trump’s Supreme Court appointee should get a hearing and a vote
Article II of the United States Constitution states that the President: …shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and...
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Court Evangelicals gather in Georgia
This weekend court evangelical Paula White hosted a face-to-face event in Alpharetta, Georgia as part of the “Evangelicals for Trump” wing of the Trump 2020 campaign. Watch it here. Speakers included Jenetzen Franklin, Harry Jackson, Ralph Reed, Alveda King, Richard...
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Thoughts on Trump’s Proposed “National Garden of American Heroes”
At his July 3, 2020 speech at Mount Rushmore, Donald Trump said: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alEE-5Pk5DQ&w=560&h=315] More here. And here is the text of the executive order: By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws...
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Monday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update? Mike Pence’s nephew hosted a court evangelical conversation with Paula White, Johnnie Moore and Samuel Rodriguez. This is an event sponsored by the Trump campaign. Watch: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znrLg80dxjQ&w=560&h=315] At the 5:30...
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When it comes to Supreme Court decisions, context matters. But whose context?
Earlier today, I published two posts on yesterday’s Supreme Court decision on LGBTQ rights. The first post addressed the politics of the decision and what it means for white evangelical support for Donald Trump. The second post dealt with the...
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What Did the Founders Mean By “Bear Arms?”
Here is J.L. Bell at Boston 1775: Last month Dennis Baron, a professor of English and linguistics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, published an op-ed essay in the Washington Post on the language of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Two new databases of...
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What Would the Founding Fathers Think About Originalism?
Andrew Shankman, author of Original Intents: Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and the American Founding and the author of my favorite review of one of my books, says “not much.” Here is a taste of his piece at History News Network: President...
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Chief Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Was a Lame-Duck Appointment
Over at the blog of Oxford University Press, historian R.B. Bernstein reminds us that John Marshall, the man who many consider to be the most influential Supreme Court Justice in American history, was a so-called “lame-duck” appointment. Here is a...
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Glenn Beck: God Took Scalia to Help Cruz Win
First he said that the Constitution was inspired by God. And now this. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igmkooD5Phg&w=560&h=315] Why does Ted Cruz invite Beck to speak at his rallies?...
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Stephen Colbert "Salutes" Antonin Scalia
I always knew Scalia was a polarizing figure, but the hatred toward the man that I have been seeing on social media this week has been disheartening. These comments seem to go beyond just ideological difference. As a historian, I...
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The Response to Scalia's Death
Three thoughts: Political posturing was already taking place within minutes of the announcement of Scalia’s death. After the announcement of Scalia’s death a lot of liberals, glad to see the conservative judge dead, turned to social media to write very...
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A Lesson from the Scalia-Ginsburg Friendship
Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader-Ginsburg disagreed on just about everything, but they were very good friends. They would spend New Year’s Eve together. They took trips together. From all reports they really enjoyed one another’s company. I am guessing...
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Ted Cruz's Commitment to Original Intent Will Be Tested Tonight
The death of Justice Antonin Scalia will shape tonight’s GOP debate and will, of course, shape the rest of this presidential campaign. That almost goes without saying. I fully expect that tonight in Greenville, South Carolina the debaters will use...
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Who is Sri Srinivasan?
Jeffrey Toobin is on CNN right now predicting that Barack Obama will nominate Sri Srinivasan to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. Srinivasan is an Obama appointee to the United States Court of Appeals for...
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