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Declaration of Independence: Sheet Anchor of the Republic
The Declaration of Independence, which Abraham Lincoln called the “sheet anchor of the republic,” spurred the articulation of American...
HumanitiesND
3 days ago3 min read


The Framers’ Why: Rejecting Presidential Control of Warmaking and Foreign Affairs
The Trump Administration’s inability to identify persuasive legal footing for Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to bomb Iran, whether on...
HumanitiesND
Jun 253 min read


Commander in Chief Clause: Its Modest Origins Under a Microscope
The confluence of the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S. Army, President Donald Trump’s deployment of the California National...
HumanitiesND
Jun 183 min read


Trump’s Troop Deployment Scrambles Constitutional Arrangements
Since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has engaged in a sustained program to scramble our constitutional arrangements and upend...
HumanitiesND
Jun 113 min read


We Cannot Trust Parchment Barriers Against the Encroaching Spirit of Power
The ongoing efforts of federal judges to contain President Donald Trump’s usurpation of congressional authority reflects an enduring...
HumanitiesND
Jun 43 min read


Security for Judges is Essential to Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law
Reporting from the Wall Street Journal over the Memorial Day weekend that a security committee at the federal Judicial Conference in...
HumanitiesND
May 283 min read


Emoluments Clause Means No Airplane for Trump Without Congressional Consent
Few provisions of the Constitution speak with the clarity of the Emoluments Clause which, if obeyed by President Donald Trump, prohibits...
HumanitiesND
May 213 min read


Remembering Justice David Souter: The Supreme Court Could Use More Like Him
Many Americans may have missed this week the passing of Justice David Souter, who retired from the Supreme Court in 2009, after a...
HumanitiesND
May 143 min read


“Is the President Required to Uphold the Constitution?”
In an interview on May 4, 2025, with Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” President Donald Trump was asked: “Don’t you need to...
HumanitiesND
May 73 min read


The First 100 Days: Trump’s Efforts to Transform America Rests on Ahistorical Personalization of Power
One of the more remarkable features of President Donald Trump’s ongoing, yet unfulfilled, effort in the first 100 days of his second term...
HumanitiesND
Apr 303 min read


The Premise of Judicial Finality Requires Presidential Compliance with Judicial Rulings
President Trump’s continued defiance of a federal court order, embraced by the U.S. Supreme Court, to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar...
HumanitiesND
Apr 233 min read


When Presidential Claims Collide with the Court, Due Process and the Rule of Law
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court instructed the Trump Administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an infamous...
HumanitiesND
Apr 163 min read


Indiscriminate DOGE Cuts Harm the States, Humanities, History and Culture
DOGE is not what it purports to be. The indiscriminate, arbitrary cuts across dozens of federal agencies reflect neither its...
HumanitiesND
Apr 93 min read


To Defuse the Presidency, Revive Congress and Checks and Balances
The overwhelming, mushrooming growth of presidential power in both foreign and domestic affairs, marked by executive aggrandizement and...
HumanitiesND
Apr 23 min read


The Rule of Law: ‘Leave to Live by No Man’s Leave'
In the spring of 1952, President Harry Truman faced a nationwide strike that he feared would undermine the production of steel and thus...
HumanitiesND
Mar 263 min read


President Trump and the Historic and Constitutional Origins of the Legislative Power of the Purse
It took many centuries of advances, threats, retreats and a Civil War, before the English Constitution secured for Parliament the...
HumanitiesND
Feb 263 min read


In Response to Violations of the Constitution: ‘Legal history still has its claims.
The Trump Administration’s encirclement of the Constitution, laid bare in federal court findings that President Trump has usurped the...
HumanitiesND
Feb 263 min read


May President Trump Ban News Organizations Whose Reporting He dislikes
The question of whether the president may ban news organizations from attending official events in various places-- the Oval Office,...
HumanitiesND
Feb 263 min read


Summoning Whitman, Yeats and Holmes to Revive America’s Democratic Spirit
The preservation of our constitutional system rests on three foundational predicates: government has only that power granted to it by...
HumanitiesND
Feb 263 min read


Trump’s Assertion of Presidential Power: Beyond the Limits of Law
“He who saves his Country,” President Donald Trump wrote on social media, “does not violate any Law.” Does the Constitution, in...
HumanitiesND
Feb 193 min read
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