Topic
Legal History
Posts
-
ArticleVol. 102 · Iss. 6
“May It Please Her Honor”: The United States’ First Women Judges, 1870-1930
Between 1870 and 1930, hundreds of women served as judges in the United States. While a small number compared to the men who served,…
Elizabeth D. Katz -
ArticleVol. 102 · Iss. 6
Phyllis Schlafly and How Forgetting Women’s Struggles for Equality Perpetuates Inequality
At the end of 1922, the Washington Times asked Alice Paul to predict how “modern feminism” would shape “the course of history in the…
Jill Elaine Hasday -
ArticleVol. 102 · Iss. 6
Citizenship and Empire in Elk v. Wilkins
In 1884, the Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship did not apply to Native Americans. In Elk v. Wilkins,…
Alexandra Fay -
ArticleVol. 102 · Iss. 6
Minor v. Happersett and the Repudiation of Universal Suffrage
Nearly 150 years ago, Minor v. Happersett rejected a constitutional challenge to a Missouri law that excluded women from the electorate. Ratification of the…
Ellen D. Katz -
ArticleVol. 102 · Iss. 6
A “New” New Departure
In the wake of enactment of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, women’s rights activists embarked on an exercise in popular constitutionalism known as “the…
Paula A. Monopoli -
Online2025
Birthright Citizenship of Child Born to Enemy Alien Visitors
This is the story of Mogridge v. United States, in which the United States asserted, and a multinational commission held, that a child born…
John Vlahoplus & Michael L. Rosin -
Online2025
Why Charters?
While charters are poorly designed for broad public transparency, they still provide benefits by functioning like a recording system that reduces investigation costs and…
Abraham J.B. Cable -
ArticleVol. 102 · Iss. 5
Prosecutorial Reform and The Myth of Individualized Enforcement
A new wave of reformist prosecutors has risen to power promising to transform the criminal justice system from within, sparking fierce backlash from defenders…
Justin Murray -
ArticleVol. 102 · Iss. 5
Judicial Imperialism: The Supreme Court’s Assault on Tribal Sovereignty and the Rule of Law
The post-1970s Supreme Court has abandoned precedents supporting tribal self-governance and devised new theories to strip tribes of sovereign powers. The Supreme Court’s assault…
Adam Crepelle -
Online2024
What’s Left of the Suspension Clause After Jones v. Hendrix?
In 2000, Marcus DeAngelo Jones was convicted of two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. As a convicted felon, Jones was prohibited from…
Tom Jordan -
ArticleVol. 102 · Iss. 1
The Original Meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment
The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution enshrines Congress’s “power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived.” Challenges to…
John R. Brooks & David Gamage -
ArticleVol. 101 · Iss. 5
The Debt Limit
Every couple of years, it seems, the debt limit shows up to wreak havoc in American law and public finance. By capping the face…
Conor Clarke