Can you feel the excitement mounting? We keep getting closer and closer to the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States. The anticipation rises. What a glorious day that will be on July 4, 2026. If only we can get past the upcoming presidential election and have a country as we know it […]
John Eastman, Jack Smith, and Amendment 14 Section 3
The father of the fake electors had the riot act read to him by the legal system. He was found guilty, that is, a recommendation was made, that the author of the fake electors scheme be stripped of his law license. In a mere 128-pages, the judge ruled that Eastman had violated the rules of […]
Senate to Bar Insurrectionists under 14th Amendment Section 3
Beware the law of unintended consequences. One only has think of the developments since the Supreme Court nullified Roe v. Wade (The Law of Unintended Consequences: From Abortion to Voter Suppression, December 5, 2021). It is highly unlikely that the Supreme Court anticipated all the political ramifications which have occurred since its decision yet alone […]
A Failure to Communicate: Saying “At the top of the hour” in a Digital World
Why do newscasters still refer to the “top of the hour” and the “bottom of the hour” in a digital world? Do they think their audiences understand the literal meaning of those terms yet alone their symbolic importance like “above the fold” to people who do not read newspapers? Language lingers even as technology moves […]
Historians Tackle 14th Amendment Section 3 and Fail (3 of 3): Jill Lepore, David Blight, Drew Gilpin Faust, and John Fabian Witt
This blog addresses the third of the three historian briefs submitted to the Supreme Court in support of the decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Donald Trump from running for President of the United States under Amendment 14 Section 3. JILL LEPORE Before turning to the brief itself, Jill Lepore, one of the […]
Historians Tackle 14th Amendment Section and Fail (2): Akhil Rees Amar and Vikram David Amar
Remember when the 14th Amendment Section 3 was all the rage? Everywhere you turned there was one talking head after another discussing this amendment and section and guessing what the Supreme Court would do. In my previous blog (Historians Tackle the 14th Amendment Section 3 and Fail: How Come?), I proposed that the Court would […]
Historians Tackle the 14th Amendment Section 3 and Fail: How Come?
History is in the news. It is not simply an ivory tower study for academicians. Instead it is front and center in the news today. We are in the first year of the 250th anniversary of America’s first civil war. Actions from the second civil war are being used to fight the third civil war. […]
The Lost Cause: A David Blight Perspective
Yale historian David Blight has been in the news lately. Even he is surprised about the frequency of his cable news appearances. His increased visibility derives from two related by difference sources: The Lost Cause and Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. In general terms, his expertise as an historian in the Reconstruction is what […]
Presidents Are Not Above the Law: Our Lord and Savior Is
Besides slavery, another way the Civil War has become part of the current political discourse is with the figure of Abraham Lincoln. In the Union, he is a revered figure. His Memorial at the nation’s capital has been the site of political gatherings, most famously the “I Have a Dream” march with Martin Luther King. […]
Did the Confederates Win the War of Northern Aggression?
America’s second Civil War has been in the news as of late. Even as we begin the celebration of the 250th anniversary of America’s first Civil War as part of the American Revolution and fight the third Civil War right now in the presidential election, the second Civil War remains a flashpoint in American political […]