In this book review, the author analyzes Akhil Reed Amar’s The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840. Specifically, the author focuses on Amar’s central thesis—that the fundamental reason behind the US Constitution was national security—and how that should affect our reading of the Constitution today. The author concludes that Amar’s book is noteworthy… Continue reading A Bellicose Founding Charter: The US and Providing for the “Common Defence”
Tag: Constitutional Law
An Army Turned Inward: Reforming the Insurrection Act to Guard Against Abuse
Elizabeth Goitein and Joseph Nunn argue that the Insurrection Act is one of the most powerful and wide-ranging authorities available to the President of the United States. The Act authorizes the president to deploy US armed forces and the militia to suppress insurrections, quell civil unrest and domestic violence, and otherwise enforce the law in… Continue reading An Army Turned Inward: Reforming the Insurrection Act to Guard Against Abuse
National Security and Access, a Structural Perspective
Public access to court proceedings is a constitutional dictate and yet, since Sept. 11, 2001, the executive branch has pushed for secrecy to shroud the courtroom in the name of national security. Too often, courts have acquiesced despite the fact that access plays a crucial role in checking inter-branch conflicts, providing the electorate the information… Continue reading National Security and Access, a Structural Perspective