U.S. Attorney General — Bunk History

The End of Civil Rights

The attorney general is pushing an agenda that could erase many of the legal gains of modern America's defining movement.

by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on June 18, 2018

Capital Hill at night.

Government Shutdowns Were Never Necessary Anyway

Government shutdowns only became possible in 1980, when the Attorney General offered a new interpretation of an 1870 law.

by M. A. Davis via Made By History on November 16, 2023

House Speaker Thomas O'Neill Jr. talking to President Ronald Reagan

Which President Had The Most Shutdowns? Reagan, With An Asterisk

There were more government shutdowns under Ronald Reagan than under every president since, combined. But some were as short as a few hours.

by Gillian Brockell via Washington Post on September 23, 2023

Charles Joseph Bonaparte formal portrait photograph.

The Architect of the FBI Was Napoleon’s Great-Nephew, Charles Bonaparte

A history of the bureau and its place in the federal government.

by Ronald G. Shafer via Retropolis on August 15, 2022

Barr’s Playbook: He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep’t Memo in 1989

This is not the first time Barr has been accused of covering up official legal findings.

by Ryan Goodman via Just Security on April 15, 2019

Jeff Sessions Is the Canary in the Coal Mine

It took well over a century for the office of the attorney general to accrue power and independence. Trump could blow that all up.

by Joshua Zeitz via Politico Magazine on July 27, 2017

I Tried to Help Black People Vote. Jeff Sessions Tried to Put Me in Jail

Jeff Sessions tried to jail an activist couple trying to ensure the black residents of Alabama the right to vote.

by Evelyn Turner via USA Today on February 7, 2017

Civil rights lawyers including Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley.

Trump's Attack on Lawyers and Law Firms Takes a Page Out of the Southern 1950s Playbook

American authoritarians fear the uniquely American power of litigation.

by Sherrilyn Ifill via Sherrilyn's Newsletter on March 24, 2025

Richard Nixon, Pat Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Betty Ford walking away from White House

Regime Change, American Style

A new book about Watergate is the first to stress how much we still do not know many of the basic facts about the burglary at its center.

by Christopher Caldwell via First Things on May 20, 2022

A Brief History of the Theory Trump and Barr Use to Resist Congressional Oversight

Is Trump's power as president becoming just what the Founders feared?

by Donald J. Fraser via HNN on June 2, 2019

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