The House of Representatives Has Still Not Yet Accomplished the Purported Impeachment of President Trump
Andrew Hyman
I agree with co-blogger Michael Ramsey when he says that the House vote on articles of impeachment was not in itself an impeachment. Thus, President Trump has not yet been fully impeached, and co-blogger David Weisberg is of the same opinion. My reasoning is a bit different, though. In the 1773 edition of his dictionary, […]
Harvard Law School Seminar on Originalism
Michael Ramsey
At Volokh Conspiracy, Keith Whittington reports that he is teaching a course on originalism at Harvard Law School this semester. The syllabus is here. From the introduction: This course will explore the scholarly debate surrounding originalism as a theory of constitutional interpretation. There will be some consideration of prominent criticisms of originalism, but the class […]
Angus McClellan: Thomas M. Cooley and Enduring Constitutional Principles
Michael Ramsey
Angus McClellan (Claremont Graduate University) has posted Thomas M. Cooley and Enduring Constitutional Principles (21 pages) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Judge Thomas M. Cooley was one of the last of an old order: a jurist and constitutional treatise-writer cloaked in the traditions of Blackstone, Story, and Kent, a guardian of written constitutions, fundamental legal […]
David Schwartz on Originalism and Indeterminacy
Michael Ramsey
At Legal History Blog, David Schwartz (Wisconsin): Originalism and the Limits of Semantic Meaning. From the introduction: The prevailing version of originalism—known as “original public meaning” (OPM) originalism—purports to be an historical semantic inquiry. The legally controlling meaning of a particular word, phrase, or clause in the Constitution is what it would have meant to […]
Has Trump actually been impeached? Ask Chief Justice Roberts.
David Weisberg
Speaker Pelosi’s current refusal to convey to the Senate the articles of impeachment adopted by the House has raised the question whether Pres. Trump has actually been impeached. I am in the camp that says that, purely as a technical matter, he has not. But the implications of that position are not as crystal-clear as one might initially think. […]
Julian Davis Mortenson & Nicholas Bagley: Delegation at the Founding (with a Response from Ilan Wurman)
Michael Ramsey
Julian Davis Mortenson (University of Michigan Law School) and Nicholas Bagley (University of Michigan Law School) have posted Delegation at the Founding (108 pages) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article refutes the claim that the nondelegation doctrine was part of the original constitutional understanding. As a matter of theory, the founding generation saw nothing untoward […]
The Controversy about the ERA Amendment Process
Mike Rappaport
It seems likely that another constitutional controversy will soon emerge. In 2020, the Virginia Legislature seems poised to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which Congress first proposed nearly a half century ago. Under one way of counting, Virginia’s approval would be the 38th state ratification for the ERA, giving it the requisite three quarters of […]
The Unimpeached President (Again)
Michael Ramsey
News reports say that Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham wants the Senate to go ahead with an impeachment trial if the House does not deliver the Articles of Impeachment. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., insisted Sunday that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not deliver articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate by the end of […]
Robert Natelson: The Constitution’s Fiduciary Meaning of ‘High . . . Misdemeanors’
Michael Ramsey
Robert G. Natelson (Independence & Montana Policy Institutes) has posted Impeachment: The Constitution's Fiduciary Meaning of 'High . . . Misdemeanors' (19 Federalist Soc'y Rev. 68 (2018)) (5 pages) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This essay explores the meaning of the phrase “high … Misdemeanors” in the Constitution's Impeachment Clause. After a review of 18th […]
Nathan Chapman: Constructing the Original Scope of Constitutional Rights
Michael Ramsey
Nathan Chapman (University of Georgia School of Law) has posted Constructing the Original Scope of Constitutional Rights (88 Fordham Law Review Online, 2019) (14 pages) 0n SSRN. Here is the abstract: In this solicited response to Ingrid Wuerth's "The Due Process and Other Constitutional Rights of Foreign Nations," I explain and justify Wuerth's methodology for constructing […]