top of page


D-Day Reminder: Constitutional Principles Went to War Abroad to Preserve them at Home
The 80th anniversary of D-Day, justly commemorated as history’s greatest military invasion, reminds us of the fact that World War II was...
HumanitiesND
Jun 19, 20243 min read
0 views
0 comments


Management Of The Image of the Supreme Court Must Be a Priority for the Justices
The defining characteristic of the American experience is the premise of law as a check on governmental power. Challenged throughout our...
HumanitiesND
Jun 12, 20243 min read
4 views
0 comments


Under a Historic Spotlight and Demands for Recusal, the Supreme Court Should Embrace Transparency
Rising concerns about the U.S. Supreme Court’s lack of impartiality amid increasing calls for judicial recusals, reforms and...
HumanitiesND
Jun 5, 20243 min read
0 views
0 comments


The Historic Trump Trial and Early Importance of the Right to a Jury Trial
On May 29, 2024, at 11:28 EST, a New York jury of seven men and give women filed out of a Manhattan courtroom to begin deliberations on...
HumanitiesND
May 30, 20243 min read
1 view
0 comments


Justice Black to His Wife: “You Must Be Beyond Reproach”
Justice Hugo Black loved the Supreme Court as much as anyone who has held a seat on the nation’s High Bench. When Black proposed marriage...
HumanitiesND
May 30, 20243 min read
0 views
0 comments


The Court’s Commitment to Equal Protection Became Real and Urgent in Brown, 70 Years Ago
On May 17, 1954—70 years ago this week—the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling in Brown v. Bd. of Education, that marked its...
HumanitiesND
May 21, 20243 min read
1 view
0 comments


Justice Fortas’s Cautionary Tale: Ethical Lapses Required Resignation to Protect the Court
In the aftermath of Justice Abe Fortas’s resignation from the Supreme Court on May 14, 1969, a decision provoked by his own ethical...
HumanitiesND
May 9, 20244 min read
14 views
0 comments


Justice Abe Fortas: Life as a Lawyer’s Lawyer and a Greek Tragedy
Abe Fortas had always wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice and, for as long as he had known him, his friend and benefactor had wanted to...
HumanitiesND
May 2, 20244 min read
19 views
0 comments


The Supreme Court at Work: “Sword Dancing,” Opinion Assignment and Writing
The U.S. Supreme Court writes opinions to explain and justify to the American people the decisions it reaches in cases it hears and...
HumanitiesND
Apr 26, 20244 min read
2 views
0 comments


The Court in Conference: Behind Closed Doors, the Justices Hammer Out Decisions
While oral argument provides the citizenry with a fascinating glimpse of the Supreme Court Justices at work, the heavy lifting is...
HumanitiesND
Apr 18, 20244 min read
1 view
0 comments


Oral Argument in the Supreme Court: Lawyers Seek to Persuade the Justices
Oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court is the most important, fascinating and visible part of the Justices’ public work on the High...
HumanitiesND
Apr 12, 20244 min read
0 views
0 comments


The Wild West: Justice Field, Sex and Scandal, A Foiled Assassination and Murder
Historically, U.S. Supreme Court Justices have avoided drama. A bookish group, given to tranquility and docility, the Justices mark their...
HumanitiesND
Apr 5, 20243 min read
24 views
0 comments


Justice John Rutledge: A George Washington Favorite and Founding Era Juggernaut
John Rutledge of South Carolina, a founding era titan who held virtually every important political office and judicial post from the...
HumanitiesND
Mar 28, 20244 min read
18 views
0 comments


Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth: Impeccable Pedigree for a Supreme Court Appointment
President George Washington’s nomination in 1796 of Oliver Ellsworth to serve as the third Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was...
HumanitiesND
Mar 21, 20244 min read
8 views
0 comments


Government by Judiciary: The Four Horsemen, in the Saddle, Exert Influence and Thwart New Deal Programs
The remarkable influence of the Four Horsemen, as demonstrated by their success in thwarting on constitutional grounds President Franklin...
HumanitiesND
Mar 19, 20244 min read
18 views
0 comments


Defending the Old Constitutional Regime: The Four Horsemen Reject Government as a Relief Society
The adage that the Supreme Court follows the election returns certainly did not apply to the Four Horsemen –Willis Van Devanter, George...
HumanitiesND
Mar 6, 20244 min read
13 views
0 comments


The Four Horsemen: A Conservative Supreme Court Bloc with Outsized Influence that Resonates in Our Time.
The Four Horsemen of Supreme Court—not Biblical—lore represented one of the most important blocs of Justices in the history of our...
HumanitiesND
Feb 29, 20244 min read
23 views
0 comments


Long Reach of the Pardon Power: The Framers, Lincoln and Biden
The intriguing President’s Day news that President Abraham Lincoln granted a pardon 160 years ago to President Joe Biden’s...
HumanitiesND
Feb 22, 20244 min read
19 views
0 comments


The Supreme Court at the Beginning: What to Wear
The photos and images of U.S. Supreme Court Justices portraying earnest men and women wrestling with momentous legal issues and...
HumanitiesND
Feb 15, 20244 min read
29 views
0 comments


Freedom of the Press: The Essential Foundation of Democracy
When the U.S. Supreme Court, in Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia (1980), in the words of Justice John Paul Stevens, “squarely held that...
HumanitiesND
Feb 12, 20244 min read
6 views
0 comments
bottom of page