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Section Three and Constitutional Democracy?
Critics of the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that former President Donald Trump, under the express terms of Section 3 of the...
Brenna Gerhardt
Jan 8, 20244 min read


Trump Claims Impeachment Clause Grants Him Immunity
Former President Donald Trump’s legal team has filed briefs with the D.C. Court of Appeals, which will hear oral argument in the federal...
Brenna Gerhardt
Jan 5, 20244 min read


A Law Court Will Affirm Colorado’s Ruling on Trump
In his landmark opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803), Chief Justice John Marshall defined the over-arching...
Brenna Gerhardt
Dec 22, 20234 min read


Mr. Smith Goes to the Supreme Court to Save the Rule of Law
Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting former President Donald Trump for his efforts to illegally overturn the 2020 election, made a...
Brenna Gerhardt
Dec 14, 20234 min read


Justice O’Connor, A Personal Reminiscence: “You Mean Sheroes?”
I had the great privilege and pleasure, twice, to interview Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on stage at a conference on women and leadership...
Brenna Gerhardt
Dec 7, 20234 min read


James Iredell: Not Hamilton, but Well- Qualified for Supreme Court
Unlike Alexander Hamilton, a more famous Founding Father who wrote extensively about the proposed Constitution and championed its...
Brenna Gerhardt
Dec 6, 20234 min read


Justice Douglas Went East, But Appointed to Court as a Westerner
President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to nominate William O. Douglas to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the...
Brenna Gerhardt
Nov 21, 20234 min read


Justice William O. Douglas: Horatio Alger of the Supreme Court
William O. Douglas, the longest serving Supreme Court Justice in American history (1939-1975), whose outsized life on and off the bench...
Brenna Gerhardt
Nov 16, 20233 min read


Justice Van Devanter of Wyoming: A “Mainstay” on the Court
The odds were against Willis Van Devanter ever winning an appointment to the Supreme Court. Widespread talk that he suffered from “pen...
Brenna Gerhardt
Nov 9, 20234 min read


Hughes Returns and Preserves the Court Amidst a Great Storm
When President Herbert Hoover in 1930 nominated Charles Evans Hughes to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, an unprecedented second...
Brenna Gerhardt
Nov 3, 20234 min read


Charles Evans Hughes: Appointed Twice to the Supreme Court
Charles Evans Hughes, one of the great names in America’s judicial history, remains the only person twice appointed to the U.S. Supreme...
Brenna Gerhardt
Oct 26, 20234 min read


Taft: The Court Should Preserve Framers’ Governmental Structure
The U.S. Supreme Court is a law court, of course, but it is primarily a political institution that guides the destiny of the nation. Its...
Brenna Gerhardt
Oct 18, 20234 min read


Chief Justice Taft: Presidency Okay, Supreme Court Heavenly
William Howard Taft, the only man to serve as President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, once observed that...
Brenna Gerhardt
Oct 16, 20234 min read


Brandeis: Free Speech Critical to Preservation of Democracy
In response to previous columns about the appointment, importance and influence of Justice Louis Brandeis, an enthusiastic reader has...
Brenna Gerhardt
Oct 16, 20234 min read


Brandeis: A Great Justice and the Right to be let Alone
Louis Brandeis, known by the nation at the time of his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court as “The People’s Lawyer,” and years later...
Brenna Gerhardt
Oct 16, 20234 min read


Justice Louis D. Brandeis: “The People’s Attorney”
By the time President Woodrow Wilson nominated him for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1916, Louis Brandeis, the nation’s first...
Brenna Gerhardt
Oct 16, 20234 min read


Chief Justice Marshall: Unpretentious, Modest and Humble
Those Americans in the early years of the republic who idolized the elegant, regal and graceful bearing of English judges, could be...
Brenna Gerhardt
Aug 18, 20234 min read


John Marshall: The Great Chief Justice Transforms the Court
Two centuries after his service to the United States as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, virtually no one doubts John Marshall’s...
Brenna Gerhardt
Aug 18, 20234 min read


Justice James Wilson: Leading Constitutional Architect
It was altogether fitting that James Wilson, second in importance only to James Madison as an architect of the Constitution, would be...
Brenna Gerhardt
Aug 18, 20234 min read


John Jay: First Chief Justice, Diplomat, Founding Era Giant
When the newly elected President George Washington turned his attention to the historic opportunity of nominating citizens to fill seats...
Brenna Gerhardt
Aug 18, 20234 min read
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