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Donald Trump with a crown on his head.

Donald Trump Is Trying to Take American Law Back to 1641

Understand that if Trump succeeds the result will not be the harmless resurrection of a quaint jurisprudential artifact.
by Frank O. Bowman III via Slate on February 26, 2025
A close up picture of the beginning of the U.S. Constitution

The Constitution Was Meant to Guard Against Oligarchy

A new book aims to recover the Constitution’s pivotal role in shaping claims of justice and equality.
by Chris Lehmann via The New Republic on February 10, 2022
Profile sketch of a court justice, 18th century (National Parks Service)

A Brief History of Circuit Riding

The study of circuit riding helps to highlight the importance of the lower federal courts in American legal history.
by Jake Kobrick via Federal Judicial Center on October 8, 2020
A hand bound to a gavel.

The Question Progressives Refuse to Answer

As Democrats became the party of proceduralism, they sidestepped a crucial debate.
by Marc J. Dunkelman via The Atlantic on April 2, 2025
A judge's gavel and the Capitol building, edited to look like the top of the Capitol is the other side of the gavel.

America Has Too Many Laws

An excess of restrictions has taken a very real toll on the lives of everyday Americans. Their stories must be told.
by Neil Gorsuch, Janie Nitze via The Atlantic on August 5, 2024
U.S. Capitol building ca. 1800.

Creating a Federal Government, 1789-1829

Digital archive and interactive map that tells the story of U.S. government institutions through the lives and work of federal employees.
by Peter J. Kastor via Washington University in St. Louis on July 1, 2024
William Howard Taft, with the Supreme Court building under construction in the background.

The Architect of Our Divided Supreme Court

100 years ago, Chief Justice William Howard Taft made the Court more efficient and more powerful, marking a turning point whose effects are still being felt.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on January 22, 2024
Old City Hall, Wall St., New York City.

Originalism and the Nature of 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.
by Jud Campbell via The Panorama on November 27, 2023
Samuel Chase.

An Intemperate Man: The Impeachment of Justice Samuel Chase

The presence of Federalist judges frustrated Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican Party, bring justice Samuel Chase under fire.
by Michael Liss via 3 Quarks Daily on June 19, 2023
A portrait of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, nicknamed "Old Bacon Face," painted by John Beale Bordley in 1836.

Can a Supreme Court Justice Be Impeached? Meet ‘Old Bacon Face.’

Samuel Chase was the only Supreme Court justice to be impeached, after he openly campaigned for a president and told jurors who he thought was guilty.
by Gillian Brockell via Retropolis on April 7, 2023
Photograph of Felix Frankfurter opening a briefcase.

A Prisoner of His Own Restraint

Felix Frankfurter was renowned as a liberal lawyer and advocate. Why did he turn out to be such a conservative Supreme Court justice?
by Jed S. Rakoff via New York Review of Books on October 13, 2022
Hand using match to light many candles on top of a crumbling cake with white frosting, with the U.S. Capitol building aflame on top.

The Oldest Government In History

America’s gerontocracy is disconnecting Congress from the rest of the country.
by Annie Fu, Walt Hickey, Shayanne Gal via Insider on September 13, 2022
Mitch McConnell smiling.

How the Conservative War on Campaign Finance Regulation Hastened Roe's Downfall

How the movement to end legal abortion became intertwined with a different conservative pet project.
by Marisa Wright via Balls And Strikes on July 12, 2022
The Fuller Court

Whose Side Is the Supreme Court On?

The Supreme Court and the pursuit of racial equality.
by Randall Kennedy via The Nation on August 9, 2021
Map of Charleston Harbor, 1822.

Elkison v. Deliesseline: The South Carolina Negro Seaman Act of 1822 in Federal Court

Elkison v. Deliesseline presented a federal court with the question of whether a state could incarcerate and enslave a free subject of a foreign government.
by Jake Kobrick via Federal Judicial Center on August 5, 2021
The Supreme Court building in Washington, D. C.

Why History Shows 'Court Packing' Isn't Extreme

Court packing obscures more than it reveals about the current debate over the size of the Supreme Court.
by Nicole Hemmer via CNN on October 12, 2020
John Rawls

How John Rawls Became the Liberal Philosopher of a Conservative Age

With "A Theory Of Justice," Rawls became the most influential political philosopher of his time — just as the liberal agenda he supported was retreating.
by Katrina Forrester, Daniel Finn via Jacobin on October 4, 2020

The Supreme Court Used To Be Openly Political. It Traded Partisanship For Power.

The idea that justices exist outside of politics is a relatively new concept.
by Rachel Shelden via Washington Post on September 25, 2020
Photograph of people lining up to hear arguments in Brown v. Board of Education.

The Case for Ending the Supreme Court as We Know It

The Supreme Court, the federal branch with the least public accountability, has historically sided with tradition over more expansive human rights visions.
by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor via The New Yorker on September 25, 2020

How Abraham Lincoln Fought the Supreme Court

As Lincoln recognized, it's not enough to question the decisions, justices, or even the structure of the Court. We need to challenge the foundation of its power.
by Matthew Karp via Jacobin on September 19, 2020
Cartoon image of Florida Supreme Court Justices with money, beer cans, and alligators

Judges Gone Wild

Bribery! Impeachment! Drug smuggling! Gambling! Justices getting drunk in the chambers!
by Dylan Taylor-Lehman, Justin Klanke, Brendan Spiegel via Narratively on January 30, 2020
Cartoon image of Florida Supreme Court Justices with money, beer cans, and alligators

Judges Gone Wild

Bribery! Impeachment! Drug smuggling! Gambling! Justices getting drunk in the chambers!
by Dylan Taylor-Lehman, Justin Klanke, Brendan Spiegel via Narratively on January 30, 2020
Andrew Johnson impeachment.

The Common Misconception About ‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors’

The constitutional standard for impeachment is different from what’s at play in a regular criminal trial.
by Frank O. Bowman III via The Atlantic on October 22, 2019

How Charitable Donations Remade Our Courts

The Olin Foundation funded the Federalist Society, seminars for judges, and much more.
by Dylan Matthews via Vox on May 29, 2019
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall; painting by Henry Inman, 1832.

Hail to the Chief

“John Marshall...exhibited a subservience to the executive branch that continues to haunt us.”
by Jed S. Rakoff via New York Review of Books on November 22, 2018
Massachusetts State House

Civil Rights Without the Supreme Court

Losing the support of the Supreme Court is disappointing, but it need not be the death knell of progress.
by Millington Bergeson-Lockwood via We're History on November 7, 2018

No Law Without Politics (No Politics Without Law)

The way to address politicization in the courts is not de-politicization but counter-politicization.
by Jedediah Britton-Purdy via LPE Project on October 2, 2018

Will Democrats Regret Weaponizing the Judiciary?

Using the court system to stymie a president has backfired before.
by Matthew Pritchard via Politico Magazine on September 24, 2018

How Conservatives Won the Battle Over the Courts 

The right has demonstrated that winning this kind of institutional fight takes years and requires a ruthless disposition.
by Julian E. Zelizer via The Atlantic on July 7, 2018
Demonstrators protesting Trump's immigration policy toward Muslims outside the Supreme Court.
partner

How To Resist Bad Supreme Court Rulings

What Dred Scott teaches us about thwarting bad law.
by Martha S. Jones via Made By History on July 6, 2018
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