Keith Whittington (and Alexander Hamilton) on Impeachable Offenses
Michael Ramsey
At Lawfare, Keith Whittington: Must Impeachable Offenses Be Violations of the Criminal Code? From the beginning: Supporters of President Trump have regularly argued that there can be no impeachment without a violation of the criminal code. So long as the Mueller investigation held the possibility that the president might be linked to actual criminal activity, […]
New Book: Theatres of Pardoning by Bernadette Meyler
Michael Ramsey
Recently published: Theatres of Pardoning (Cornell University Press 2019), by Bernadette Meyler (Stanford). Here is the book description from Amazon: From Gerald Ford's preemptive pardon of Richard Nixon and Donald Trump's claims that as president he could pardon himself to the posthumous royal pardon of Alan Turing, the power of the pardon has a powerful […]
More Fun with “Officers” from Blackman & Tillman
Michael Ramsey
In The Atlantic, Josh Blackman & Seth Barrett Tillman: The Weird Scenario That Pits President Pelosi Against Citizen Trump in 2020. From the introduction: Assume that President Donald Trump is impeached and removed from office. At that point, Mike Pence would become president. The position of vice president would remain vacant until Congress confirmed a […]
Segall on Descriptive and Normative Theories of Originalism
Mike Rappaport
Eric Segall raises the important distinction between two different types of originalist theories. One type of theory – a descriptive theory – holds that originalism has been the dominant approach to constitutional interpretation throughout American history and then uses this prevailing approach as the main (or at least one important) argument for using that approach […]
The Original Constitutional Meaning of Bribery as Applied to the Ukraine Scandal
Andrew Hyman
Giles Jacob wrote the leading law dictionary of the founding era, and he defined bribery as, “[T]he receiving, or offering, any undue reward, to or by any person concerned in the administration of public justice, whether judge, officer, etc., to act contrary to his duty….” There is also a modern federal statutory definition of bribery, […]
Robert George on Textualism in the Title VII Cases
Michael Ramsey
At National Review, Robert P. George (Princeton): Counterfeit Textualism. From the beginning: In 1964, Congress adopted Title VII, which forbids employers to discriminate based on sex. No one suggests that any member of Congress or the public then understood Title VII to ban discrimination based on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.” Did generations of Americans […]
Eric Segall on the Descriptive/Normative Gap in Originalist Theory
Michael Ramsey
At Dorf on Law, Eric Segall: Solum on Posner and the Descriptive/Normative Gap in Originalist Theory. From the key discussion: Solum's praise of Posner raises a question I have tried to get academic originalists to engage in but, with one exception (Professor Christopher Green), with little success, and it is an enormously important question for […]
Josh Blackman & Seth Barrett Tillman on Impeachment without a Chief Justice (Updated)
Michael Ramsey
At Balkinization (guest-posting), Josh Blackman & Seth Barrett Tillman: Could Justice Thomas Preside over President Trump’s Impeachment Trial? From the introduction: During most impeachment trials, the Vice President presides over the Senate. But when “the President of the United States is tried,” the Constitution states that “the Chief Justice shall preside.” If President Trump were […]
Rob Natelson on McCulloch v. Maryland
Michael Ramsey
At the Epoch Times, Rob Natelson: Why McCulloch v. Maryland—Now 200 Years Old—Is Not a ‘Big Government’ Manifesto. From the introduction: This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland. In that case, Chief Justice John Marshall upheld Congress’s power to charter a national bank—a distant forerunner of the […]
Federalist Society Convention Updates
Michael Ramsey
Here is further video of the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, with the theme "Originalism" (from the Federalist Society website): Saturday panels Showcase Panel III: Does Originalism Protect Unenumerated Rights? Originalism and Constitutional Property Rights Jurisprudence 51 Imperfect Solutions for the Ethical Practice of Law Special Session: Executive Power vs. Congressional Power Twelfth Annual Rosenkranz […]