The Latest Breaking News from James Madison

The Constitution protects many more rights than it mentions, as James Madison explained.

In 1787, James Madison articulated in Federalist Papers No. 10 that partisan polarization could fundamentally threaten a democratic republic. “Violence of faction,” as he called it, must be controlled.

On May 17, 2022, after weeks of negative stories on Montpelier in the national press, the foundation that operates the Virginia plantation home of James Madison finally made good on its promise to share authority with descendants of people enslaved by the man known as “the father” of the U.S.…

[This month, I'm serializing my 2003 Harvard Law Review article, The Mechanisms of the Slippery Slope; I'll begin here with a slightly reordered introduction, which generally summarizes my analysis, but if you want more details, you'll get them in later posts.] Consider one classic slippery slope claim (more shortly on…

Most of the wealthiest presidents were prosperous before making the White House their office, with this money helping them accomplish their presidential ambitions. Some, such as Herbert Hoover, worked hard to develop an empire, while others, including Theodore Roosevelt, inherited their fortune.

I implore our leaders to summon whatever intestinal fortitude they still possess to draft legislation demanding background checks, bans on firearms for domestic abusers and the mentally ill and other common sense restrictions.

Politics is nothing new in the supposedly august Supreme Court — and it's often been the worst possible kind

Anti-abortion interstate travel bans would have multiple constitutional defects.

To successfully govern, the United States, like all democracies, must effectively navigate among competing ideologies. When competition is manifested by vigorous debate leading to compromise, democracy works. If, however, ideology begets hyperpartisanship, then dysfunction, paralysis or even civil war can be the result. The inevitability and pitfalls of adversarial government…

The Sun Belt was able to add four teams, avoided getting picked off, and has come out of the latest round of expansion as one of the big winners: 22 College Football Thoughts for 2022, No. 18

censure of government employees, students, professionals, and others might.