Feb 25, 2021
The team convenes again to further discuss the January 6, 2021 insurrection and its echoes of the end of Reconstruction, as well as thoughts about the way forward.
Feb 23, 2021
Ongoing mob violence spurs Congress to try to help Black Americans achieve meaningful equality. But in the 1870s, the Supreme Court limits the clause to cover only state action, despite Congress’s intentions. In the 1890s, it allows segregation by state governments. In 1964, it trades anti-subjugation...
Feb 16, 2021
Congress draws on Article IV and the Corfield opinion to craft a new privileges and immunities clause, but the Supreme Court quickly narrows its scope to near-invisibility. Lochner era courts use the due process clause to promote economic rights but twist the Amendment’s meaning, until substantive due process is...
Feb 9, 2021
We discuss ancient and early modern doctrines regarding the inheritance of citizenship, state and federal citizenship in the early republic, and early arguments for racial equality among citizens. We return to Dred Scott’s creation of a racial exclusion to citizenship, the Reconstruction Congress’s efforts...
Feb 4, 2021
In light of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol and the second impeachment of Donald Trump, the team has reconvened to further discuss the history and mechanics of Section 3 and the use of impeachment against former government officials.