legal theory — Bunk History

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William Rehnquist

The Late Supreme Court Chief Who Haunts Today’s Right-Wing Justices

William Rehnquist went from a lonely dissenter to an institutionalist chief—and his opinions are all the rage among the court’s current conservatives.

by Duncan Hosie via The New Republic on October 23, 2024

John Sherman

The Other Sherman’s March

How the younger brother of the famous general set out to destroy the scourge of monopoly power.

by Richard R. John via HNN on October 22, 2024

Barack Obama speaking in front of a museum exhibit titled "Writing the Constitution."

The Constitution and the American Left

A culture of reverence for the U.S. Constitution shields the founding document from criticism, despite its many shortcomings.

by Aziz Rana via Dissent on July 19, 2024

Supreme Court building.

Supreme Court Opinions Don't Have to Be the Final Word

The Supreme Court doesn't have the last word; the people do. How attorneys pushed back on the flawed 1987 McCleskey decision.

by Robert L. Tsai via Made By History on June 28, 2024

Image of a man distributing newspapers at a post office.

The Post Office and Privacy

We can thank the postal service for establishing the foundations of the American tradition of communications confidentiality.

by Matthew Wills, Anuj Desai via JSTOR Daily on May 19, 2024

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Conservatives’ Favorite Legal Doctrine Crashes Into Reality

Originalism is all the rage on the right, but a gun case at the Supreme Court is exposing its absurdity—even to the conservative justices.

by Matt Ford via The New Republic on November 9, 2023

AI-generated illustration of a blue neural network, surrounded by code and data graphics, against dark background.

How Machines Came to Speak (and How to Shut Them Up)

On the intertwined history of free speech law and media technology.

by Alex Sayf Cummings via Society for U.S. Intellectual History on September 24, 2023

Supreme Court Justice Harlan F. Stone photographed with a book.

The Supreme Court's World War II Battles

Cliff Sloan’s new book explains how the Franklin Roosevelt-shaped Court wrestled with individual rights as the nation fought to save itself and the world.

by Robert L. Tsai via Washington Monthly on September 22, 2023

Group of freedmen and women posing for a picture.

How Could ‘Freedmen’ Be a Race-Neutral Term?

An opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas exposed the limits of originalism.

by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on July 7, 2023

Jacob Duché delivers the first prayer in the Continental Congress, 1774.

The Traitor Chaplain Who Gave Government Prayer to America — A 4th of July Corrective

When drafting the Constitution, our founders had no need of prayer.

by Andrew L. Seidel via Religion Dispatches on July 3, 2023

Supreme Court justice swearing in FDR at inauguration.

When FDR Took On the Supreme Court

The standard narrative of Roosevelt's court-packing efforts casts them as a failure. But what if they were a success?

by John Fabian Witt via The Nation on June 27, 2023

Linda Brown Smith, Ethel Louise Belton Brown, Harry Briggs, Jr., and Spottswood Bolling, Jr., 1964

Brown v. Board of Education: Annotated

The 1954 Supreme Court decision, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, declared that “separate but equal” has no place in education.

by Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on May 17, 2023

A microphone animated as a black snake.

The Dark Side of Defamation Law

A revered Supreme Court ruling protected the robust debate vital to democracy—but made it harder to constrain misinformation. Can we do better?

by Jeannie Suk Gersen via The New Yorker on May 11, 2023

Margaret Sanger in 1928.

The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Ghost of Margaret Sanger

Religious conservatives see “anti-eugenic” laws as the most promising path to establish a federal ban on abortion.

by Melinda Cooper via Dissent on January 17, 2023

Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court holding signs with "Let us pray" and "young women for America."

2022 Saw Conservative Gains on Education Issues. But They May Be Short-lived.

Conservatives’ veneration for the founders opens the door for a secular vision for America’s public schools.

by Adam Laats via Made By History on December 30, 2022

Abortion opponents hold signs reading "I Vote Pro-life First" outside Supreme Court

Abortion and Partisan Entrenchment

The modern Republican Party has tied itself to Roe v. Wade. With the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs, the party is vulnerable to new issues.

by Jack Balkin via Social Science Research Network on September 14, 2022

Illustrative grid rid of students with the faces represented by various colors, fabric patterns, and textures.

How Affirmative Action Was Derailed by Diversity

The Supreme Court has watered down the policy’s core justification: justice.

by Richard Thompson Ford via The Chronicle of Higher Education on September 2, 2022

Map showing allotments to tribal citizens.

Sovereignty Is Not So Fragile

McGirt v. Oklahoma and the failure of denationalization.

by Noah Ramage via Perspectives on History on August 2, 2022

Picture of two warring sides of the abortion debate in a heated exchange.

The Myth That Roe Broke America

The debate over abortion is an important part of the story of polarization in American politics, but it is not its genesis.

by Adam Serwer via The Atlantic on May 18, 2022

Photograph of abortion pro-choice activists demonstrating outside the Supreme Court.

Originalists are Misreading the Constitution’s Silence on Abortion

The originalist case for lifting abortion restrictions.

by Laura Briggs via Made By History on May 3, 2022

The Amistad slave ship

Birthright Citizenship, Slave Trade Legislation, and the Origins of Federal Immigration Regulation

Opponents of birthright citizenship say there weren't any “illegal aliens” when the 14th Amendment was drafted. They're wrong.

by Gabriel Chin, Paul Finkelman via UC Davis Law Review on April 9, 2021

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