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Strom Thurmond speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of Ed Carnes' confirmation to the bench.

The Fight for Justice Starts with Blocking Judges Who Are “Tough on Crime”

The story of how Ed Carnes became a judge offers crucial lessons for those who hope to unwind the policies of mass incarceration.
by Robert L. Tsai via Public Books on November 13, 2024

Anita Hill and Her 1991 Congressional Defenders to Joe Biden: You Were Part of the Problem

Hill revisits the infamous Clarence Thomas hearings with five of the congressional women who supported her.
by Annys Shin, Libby Casey via Washington Post on November 22, 2017
Image of Anita Hill.

Anita Hill Saw History Repeat Itself at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court Hearings

The key witness in Clarence Thomas’s nomination process discusses how sex and race shaped the new Justice’s experience, and her own.
by Anita Hill, Jane Mayer, David Remnick via The New Yorker on April 8, 2022
Chuck Grassley looking at his phone during confirmation hearing

A Brief Guide to Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, the Silliest Ritual In Washington

Supreme Court confirmation hearings feature senators talking a lot, and nominees nodding politely until they can leave.
by Jay Willis via Balls And Strikes on March 15, 2022

Joe Biden Pushed Ronald Reagan to Ramp Up Incarceration – Not the Other Way Around

Biden convinced small-government Republicans to increase spending in the War on Crime.
by David Stein via The Intercept on September 17, 2019
Anita Hill taking oath before testifying.

Anita Hill's Opening Statement

In 1991, Anita Hill publicly accused then Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in the early 1980s.
via CNN on October 11, 1991
Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.

States’ Rights to Racism

On the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, racism, and federal power.
by Brando Simeo Starkey via Literary Hub on June 5, 2025
Portrait of Roscoe Conkling taken between 1860 and 1865.

The Senator Who Said No to a Seat on the Supreme Court — Twice

Roscoe Conkling was a successful politician and an able lawyer. But the colorful and irascible senator had no desire to serve on the high court.
by Robert B. Mitchell via Retropolis on February 27, 2022
Political cartoon of women marching in Revolutionary War costumes, waving a flag that says "Constitutional Amendment"
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The 1940s Fight Against the Equal Rights Amendment Was Bipartisan and Crossed Ideological Lines

Support for and opposition to the ERA are not positions that are fundamentally tied to either conservatism or liberalism.
by Rebecca DeWolf via HNN on May 2, 2021

Joe Biden Tried to Cut Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare for 40 Years

Joe Biden was once a New Deal Democrat. Then he “evolved” and starting backing decades of Republican plans to cut Medicare and Social Security.
by Branko Marcetic via Jacobin on January 29, 2020
Supreme Court building.
partner

The Supreme Court Confirmation Process is Actually Less Political Than it Once Was

Our fights over nominees might be bitter, but they’re still less contentious than the 19th century.
by Timothy S. Huebner via Made By History on December 12, 2018

The Rape Culture of the 1980s, Explained by Sixteen Candles

The beloved romantic comedy’s date rape scene provides important context for the Brett Kavanaugh accusations.
by Constance Grady via Vox on September 27, 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

How Supreme Court Nominations Lost Their Apolitical Pretense

It used to be that nobody would admit to opposing a nominee for ideological reasons. Should we be happy that illusion is over?
by David Greenberg via Politico Magazine on June 30, 2018

The Dot-Coms Were Better Than Facebook

Twenty years ago, another high-profile tech executive testified before Congress. It was a more innocent time.
by Ian Bogost via The Atlantic on April 13, 2018

The Tools of Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley’s sixty-year love affair with the word “tool.”
by Moira Weigel via The New Yorker on April 11, 2018
U.S. President George W. Bush holds a news conference in the briefing room of the White House in Washington July 15, 2008.

George W. Bush's White House "Lost" 22 Million Emails

The outrage and press coverage was nothing compared with that surrounding Hillary Clinton's emails.
by Nina Burleigh via Newsweek on September 12, 2016
Full text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, etched in stone.

What Does It Mean To Make America "Christian?"

The "Christian Amendment" and the push for Christianity to be established as the national religion of the United States.
by Charles Louis Richter via (Ir)religion In America on February 26, 2015

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