While scholars have justifiably given the election of 1800 much attention, the contest of 1796 deserves its own share of scholarly interest as Stephen Kurtz, Joanne Freeman, and John Ferling have demonstrated. Not only was it the first truly contested election involving political parties but it also signaled, as Kurtz observed, the beginning of the […]
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Federalism and Fundamental Constitutional Rights after Roe
Last month, Politico released a draft of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The opinion, authored by Samuel Alito, affirms that the Court – short of an unexpected revision or vote switch – will soon wholly overturn Roe v. Wade. Per the draft, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.” […]
Baseball, Politics, and the Sublimity of Negative Space
The national pastime shares an image problem with national politics: gridlock. Baseball’s “pace of play” crisis—balls are too rarely in play because defenses today are designed to exploit the rules of the game—illuminates similar perceptions about our constitutional system. In both cases, consumers—be they baseball fans or American citizens—are frustrated with inactivity. Yet it is […]
The “Supreme Court of Finance:” Democratic Legitimacy and the Development of the Federal Reserve System
When President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913, he described the resulting institution as the “Supreme Court of Finance.” In the Federal Reserve System, Wilson believed, the United States finally possessed a central institution whose decisions regulated financial matters for the entire country, as did the Supreme Court in the […]
“Anarchy” and the “Mob” in the Early Republic
On January 7, 2021, the New York Times published the following headlines on the print edition’s front page: “After Pro-Trump Mob Storms Capitol, Congress Confirms Biden’s Win” and “A Mob and the Breach of Democracy: The Violent End of the Trump Era.” In the digital edition, these headlines were supplemented by a video titled “Pro-Trump […]
