Trump’s Demand for Recess Appointments Brings the Constitution and the Senate’s Role into Sharp Focus
The Recess Appointment power, seldom at the forefront of national discussion, resurfaced last week as a headline topic when...
top of page
HumanitiesND
Nov 133 min read
Liberty, Justice and Civilization Depend on the Rule of Law
Presidential elections have consequences, as they say, and national airwaves are filled with voices engaging in speculation and...
1 view0 comments
HumanitiesND
Nov 63 min read
Election of the Presidency Thrown to the House of Representatives: Intrigue and Mischief
James Madison, writing in August of 1823 from his home in Montpelier, Virginia, to which he repaired in what turned out be a futile...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Oct 303 min read
Remembering the First Presidential Election: The Constitution on Trial
The presidential election of 1788, the first under the newly minted Constitution, was unusual and even unique in ways that 21st Century...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Oct 233 min read
Direct Election, not the Electoral College, Represents the Views, Values and Interests of Voters
Our ongoing review of the origins and rationales that undergird the Electoral College reveals a central point that cannot be ignored. The...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Oct 163 min read
Small States and the Electoral College: Reconsidering Chief Justifications
One of the chief justifications for the Electoral College, advanced by its advocates, is that small, lightly populated states require...
1 view0 comments
HumanitiesND
Oct 93 min read
Readers’ Questions Reveal Concerns, Doubts, Myths About the Electoral College
Civic engagement, what the nation’s founders hoped would be a distinguishing feature of the young and energetic republic, can be...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Oct 23 min read
Readers Rightly Question Use of the Electoral College to Elect the President
Two previous columns on the origins of the Electoral College have sparked questions from discerning readers across the state who wonder...
1 view0 comments
HumanitiesND
Sep 253 min read
The Framers’ Embrace of the Electoral College Not Based on Disdain for Democracy
The Framers of the Constitution seriously considered adoption of a direct popular vote for the election of the president until objections...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Sep 183 min read
Origins of the Electoral College: A Compromise for Electing the President
With less than 50 days remaining in the 2024 presidential election, citizens are turning their attention to the “Electoral College Map,”...
3 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Sep 113 min read
Term Limits for Justices: Regularizing Appointments and Lowering the Political Temperature
Advocates of term limits for Supreme Court Justices, mindful of the overgrown, transformative power of the Court and the ethical lapses...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Sep 53 min read
Compelling Reasons to Impose Term Limits on US Supreme Court Justices
Plummeting public approval of the U.S. Supreme Court, now at record lows, reflects in part deep-seated concerns about recent rulings that...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Aug 283 min read
Judicial Accountability When Congress is Reluctant to Use Impeachment Power
The doctrine of checks and balances, central to the success of American Constitutionalism, is designed to curb abuse of power and promote...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Aug 213 min read
Does the Impeachment Clause Deter the Supreme Court from Misbehavior?
Is the threat of impeachment sufficient to deter Supreme Court Justices from abusing power or engaging in other acts of misbehavior that...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Aug 143 min read
The Founders’ Dilemma: When the Court Has the Last Word, Who Limits the Court?
In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates debated the merits and virtues of vesting in federal courts the awesome power of...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Aug 73 min read
A Constitutional Amendment to Restore the Rule of Law in the United States
President Joe Biden’s proposed constitutional amendment--“The No One is Above the Law Amendment” -- seeks to restore the cornerstone...
2 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Jul 313 min read
Biden’s Calls for Constitutional Restraints on the Presidency and Supreme Court Steeped in Irony
President Joe Biden’s sweeping proposals to reform the US Supreme Court and the American Presidency are steeped in irony. It is not lost...
1 view0 comments
HumanitiesND
Jul 253 min read
Biden’s Withdrawal: Presidential Character in Action
The possibilities of the Office of the Presidency, the Framers of the Constitution knew, would depend in large measure on the character...
0 views0 comments
HumanitiesND
Jul 173 min read
Presidential Assassinations, the Dark Side of American Politics, Can Destroy Democracy
The use of force, including assassination and other forms of lethal political violence, as a means of altering governmental regimes and...
1 view0 comments
HumanitiesND
Jul 113 min read
Presidential Campaigns Against the Supreme Court: Familiar and Effective Strategies
President Joe Biden, seeking a second term, is running against the U.S. Supreme Court. Keenly aware of the Court’s declining approval...
1 view0 comments
bottom of page