Today is January 6th, 2026. Five years ago today, the Congress met, as prescribed by law, to count the electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election and certify the winner thereof. This had happened every fourth January 6th since the adoption of the Twentieth Amendment, almost always without any kind
Welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! Today it is time for the final chapter of Level One. Over the last several installments, I covered the story of slavery and the Constitution. Slavery defined what I call the First Republic, from the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 through the Civil War
Welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! Last time, I talked all about how the Civil War transformed the Constitution, and how the Reconstruction Amendments reflected and formalized that transformation. But I left off on an ominous note: This was seen by many at the time as completing the work. Slavery had
Welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! For the last few lessons, I've been telling the story of slavery and the American Constitution. Last time, our story finally reached the outset of the Civil War in 1861. Today, then, I'll be talking about how the war, and its
This is a post that I am writing simply because it seems to need saying, and I feel like I am going to keep having occasion to reference it. Earlier today, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) forced a vote on an article of impeachment against Donald Trump. He does this sort
Everyone's talkin' 'bout the removal power this week! And there's no mystery why: on Monday, the Supreme Court held arguments in a case called Trump v. Slaughter, about whether the president can fire an FTC commissioner at will. From the tenor of the oral
Hello and welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! Finally, finally, our story is going to reach the breaking of the Constitution that became the American Civil War of 1861-65. I initially thought that both of the last two lessons would have covered this entire period, but it turns out there'
Welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! Last time, we covered the sordid history of American slavery, up though the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. I talked about all the ways – some pretty apparent, some more subtle – in which the "peculiar institution" of slavery shaped the U.S. Constitution. Today I&
Welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! We left off last time on an ominous note. There's something missing from my discussion of the Constitution so far, something lurking in the shadows. You can see the same thing, the same shadowy presence, in the Constitution itself. Scattered throughout the document
Hello and welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! We're in the home stretch of Level One now. Last time, I canvassed federalism and the federal Union. That concluded the discussion, for Level One purposes, of the structure of government. But there is, of course, another side to our constitutional
Welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! Today I'm continuing my discussion of federalism, one of the great defining structural features of the American constitutional system. Last time, I gave you a brief primer on what these things called "states" are, exactly. Today, therefore, I'll be
Welcome back to Constitutional Perspectives! Over the last few installments, I covered the three branches of the federal government – legislative, executive, and judicial – as well as the overall dynamic between those branches. That just about wraps up the structure of the federal government, at least for our purposes here in