Historical and Legal Commentary
End Run Around "High Crimes and Misdemeanors"
The meaning of “high crimes and misdemeanors” in the Constitution’s impeachment clause has bedevilled generations of lawyers and politicians, and citizens. An interesting new piece by a Cornell Law Professor, Josh…
Read MoreNo Way to Treat a Judge
The current impeachment of Judge G. Thomas Porteous of New Orleans is reopening old wounds of mine. My critique of the Senate process of trying impeachments by committee is up…
Read MoreVirginia Festival of the Book
At noon on Saturday, I’ll be in at the university book store Charlottesville for the Virginia Festival of the Book, on a panel titled “American History: Our Government at Work.” I’ll be talking…
Read MoreThe Benefits of Fellowship
I am halfway through a remarkable opportunity, the Hodson Trust/John Carter Brown Library Fellowship. The grant supported me for two months of research at the library in Providence (where there…
Read MoreThinking About Race
A few factors have combined to make me reflect on race relations in this country, and also to make me hope andwonder if we’re entering a post-racial period. First came…
Read MorePulitzer Biography Crashes Through
The Washington Post today carries a terrific review of the new biography of Joseph Pulitzer by my friend, James McGrath Morris, a/k/a Jamie. That it’s a great book should be…
Read MoreJames Wilson's Draft
I have been tickled by the recent identification of records of James Wilson at the Historical Society of Pennsvlvania as an early draft of the Constitution prepared during the Constitutional…
Read MoreTreason, American Style
Nattering on about Aaron Burr’s 1807 treason trial this week, I was brought up short by a very simple question: How many treason trials have there been in the United States? …
Read MoreThings Written Remain
A striking feature of Aaron Burr’s life is the paucity of written material he left behind. For a man who spent 20 years in public life during the nation’s founding,…
Read MoreAaron Burr and Goethe — 200 years ago
On January 4, 1810, Aaron Burr met with the poet Johan Goethe in Weimar, Germany. They were rough contemporaries: Goethe was 60; Burr 53. But they were at very different stages…
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