Here is constitutional historian Grace Mallon responding to the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump vs. United States. Early American historian David Waldstreicher’s response is on the mark: One wonders why U.S. history departments “sold off constitutional history to Poli Sci […]
Supreme Court
David Blight on the Supreme Court’s recent decision on presidential immunity
The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian weighs-in on Trump vs. United States:
“The Supreme Court has effectively ruled that 250 years of U.S. history under a republic is enough”
University of Maryland history professor Holly Brewer writes, “The conservative justices have ignored history altogether and created a shocking new precedent: The president is above the law.” Here is a taste of her piece at The New Republic: Five members […]
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wants the Supreme Court to “step-in” to change Trump felony conviction
Watch Johnson on Fox & Friends this morning: Nice try, Mike, but the Supreme Court doesn’t just “step in.” Could this case be appealed to the Supreme Court? Yes. But first it needs to go through the New Appellate Division […]
What is going on with the Alitos?
First, the Alito family flew an upside-down American flag at their Alexandria, Virginia home. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito said his wife Martha-Ann hung the flag in the context of an argument with a neighbor who had a vulgar anti-Trump […]
Let a 1000 president-inspired insurrections bloom!
Yesterday, the Supreme Court overturned the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove Donald Trump from the ballot in Colorado. I am not a legal scholar, but doesn’t this decision suggest that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the United […]
February 8, 2024 revealed a democracy about to fall off a cliff and the American people didn’t bother to “get off the couch.”
Here is Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Some night around the year 2064, when the ragtag children of the last historians huddle around a cave fire and mix up some berries and the blood of their groundhog dinner to […]
The Supreme Court will take up the Colorado-Trump ballot case
Here is CBS News: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a politically explosive decision from Colorado’s top court that found former President Donald Trump ineligible for the presidency and would leave him off the state’s primary ballot, stepping into a […]
Federalist Society law professors make the case that Trump is ineligible to hold government office
On May 18, 2016, after Donald Trump had all but secured the GOP nomination for President of the United States, the candidate announced a list of 11 judges he would consider nominating to replace the deceased Antonin Scalia on the […]
On the evangelical postal worker case, Supreme Court tells a lower court to take another look
Amid all the discussion of affirmative action today, the Supreme Court also made a unanimous decision on a religious liberty case. Here is Ariane de Vougue and Tierney Sneed reporting on Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General: The Supreme Court revived […]
David Brooks makes an argument for class-based college admissions
Here is The New York Times columnist in the wake of the Supreme Court ending affirmative action today: We’ve been debating affirmative action since I was in diapers, and increasingly the Supreme Court has gotten into this issue, and now […]
The Author’s Corner with Samantha Barbas
Samantha Barbas is Professor of Legal History and Director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy at the University at Buffalo School of Law. This interview is based on her new book, Actual Malice: Civil Rights and Freedom […]
The Author’s Corner with Mark Dillon
Mark Dillon is Associate Justice of the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, Second Judicial Department. This interview is based on his book, The First Chief Justice: John Jay and the Struggle of a New Nation (State […]
Goodbye Roger Taney
Earlier this week my U.S. history survey students answered a final exam essay question on the short-term causes of the American Civil War. I haven’t graded their essays yet, but if their blue books do not contain something about Roger […]
What happens when gay rights clash with religious freedom?
Here is Tish Harrison Warren at The New York Times: This week, the Supreme Court will hear a case that will reignite a continuing conversation about what to do when long-established religious convictions clash with gay people’s civil rights. In 303 […]
Current contributing editor Adam Jortner on Moore v. Harper
Check out Jornter’s piece, “The Supreme Court’s biggest case this term threatens American democracy.” Here is a taste: Moore v. Harper is perhaps the most significant case of the U.S. Supreme Court term beginning Monday. At stake is the question of […]
Episode 48: The Christian Right Against Arlen Specter
Evangelical Bush supporters are angry at the new chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Episode 48: “The Christian Right Against Arlen Specter’” dropped today. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here […]
Where’s the praying Bremerton football coach?
Back in June the U.S. Supreme Court said Joseph Kennedy, an assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in the state of Washington, could pray with his team on the field. Kennedy was on paid leave until, I presume, the […]
Are Supreme Court justices, in their capacity as Supreme Court justices, praying with evangelical pro-lifers?
Here is Kara Vought and Tim Dickinson at Rolling Stone: At an evangelical victory party in front of the Supreme Court to celebrate the downfall of Roe v. Wade last week, a prominent Capitol Hill religious leader was caught on a hot mic making a bombshell […]
Abortion, the Supreme Court, and the uses of history
Below is a taste of Carlos Lozado’s piece at The Washington Post. It is one of the better things I have read on Dobbs. …One of the sharpest divides in the Supreme Court’s abortion rulings is over history — what […]