fundamental rights

When we try to recover the “original meaning” of constitutional amendments, we begin with deeply engrained premises about the nature of what we're looking for.

Hannah Arendt’s conception of human rights has much to say to our contemporary moment.

A new book argues that the fetishization of the first ten amendments is a recent thing – and that it comes at a cost.

The voice of Doctor Johnson, archcritic of the American Revolution, was constantly in mind for the Declaration of Independence’s drafter.

A new lawsuit builds on 50 years of history in environmental activism.

As a movement, it has imploded. As a credo, it’s here to stay.

The religious origins of American liberalism.

The conservative Supreme Court's favorite judicial philosophy requires a very, very firm grasp of history — one that none of the justices seem to possess.

Parental rights stem from the same liberty that the Supreme Court just began rolling back.

King could not accomplish what philosophers and theologians also failed to—distinguishing moral from immoral law in a polarized society.

Thomas Jefferson was a proponent of open migration. But who qualified as a refugee?

Calls for the court to remain neutral have long been tools for denying Americans rights.

Historians have demonstrated how central racism has been to the formation of the U.S. But many of those same ideas have also been vital to combating white supremacy.

When African Americans allied themselves with the British, the Patriots were enraged, and they acted.

The pervasive mythmaking about the supposed wisdom of the founders has covered up a central truth: the US Constitution is an antidemocratic mess.

During the 1860 presidential election, political parties dueled over the intent of the framers.

An overlooked corner of the Constitution hints at a right to be protected from infection.

In our current politics we must be attentive to how talk of American freedom has long been connected to the presumed right of whites to dominate everyone else.

The centennial of women’s suffrage which guaranteed all women the right to vote — has a lie at its very core.

“Modern Housing,” by Catherine Bauer, argued—as many activists do today—that a decent home should be seen as a public utility and a basic right.