Jan

24

The Roots of Progressivism Lie in . . . the Republican Party?

Posted by: | January 24, 2012 | 10 Comments

Tonight, when President Barack Obama delivers his third State of the Union address, he is widely expected to channel the progressive rhetoric of Theodore Roosevelt. It was Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” speech in 1910 (quoted in my previous post here) that called for the federal government to play an active role in regulating the economy. When he speaks [...]

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Oct

10

The Extrajudicial Killing of Anwar al-Awlaki

Posted by: | October 10, 2011 | 1 Comment

On Friday, September 30, 2011, Anwar al-Awlaki (Aulaqi), a U.S. citizen and well-known al-Qaeda figure, was targeted and killed during a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. Samir Khan, also a U.S. citizen, was killed in the same attack. Khan was the editor of Inspire, an English-Language al-Qaeda magazine that, among other things, publishes how-to articles [...]

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May

17

Ratner: Even Osama Should Have Had Criminal Rights

Posted by: | May 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Michael Ratner would have treated the pursuit of Osama bin Laden as a law enforcement matter, not as a matter of war. He would rather have seen bin Laden arrested, brought to trial, and given the rights of a criminal defendant than shot on the spot by Navy SEALS. This almost certainly doesn’t put Ratner [...]

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Mar

20

The Unitary Governor

Posted by: | March 20, 2011 | 5 Comments

“The executive power shall be vested in a governor” proclaims Article V, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution. Over the course of the past two decades, there has been a tremendous amount of legal scholarship about the “unitary executive theory,” based on the executive vesting clause of Article 3, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution: “The executive Power shall be vested [...]

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Sep

20

Boden Visitor A Reminder of Marquette’s Connection to Charles Evans Hughes

Posted by: | September 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment

This year’s Boden Lecturer, Prof. Thomas Merrill, is the Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at the Columbia University Law School.   In addition to providing insight in the fascinating Wisconsin case of Melms v. Pabst, his presence also reminds us of an important connection between the Marquette Law Review and Charles Evans Hughes.

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Jul

23

Obama’s “Feminine” Communication Style

Posted by: | July 23, 2010 | 1 Comment

A few weeks ago, Kathleen Parker, a writer for the Washington Post, likened Obama to a woman because of his negotiation style, calling him the first female president. (See the article here.)  Confronted with crises and criticisms, our President hasn’t responded in the alpha dog style of many male politicians. Instead, he’s a listener and [...]

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Mar

8

How Much Difference Does the Small State Advantage in the Electoral College Really Make?

Posted by: | March 8, 2010 | 3 Comments

One of the many unusual features of the Electoral College established by Article II, Section 1, of the United States Constitution is the provision that specifies that each state shall have “a Number of Electors equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.” The [...]

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Mar

4

President for a Day

Posted by: | March 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Today marks the 161st anniversary of the one-day Presidency of the United States of David Rice Atchison. Atchison’s story, once well-known, has been reduced to an item of trivia for American history buffs. By common agreement, the Presidential term of James Knox Polk ended at noon on March 4, 1849. March 4 was a Sunday [...]

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Jan

16

Contract Rights Under Assault

Posted by: | January 16, 2010 | 7 Comments

In 1789, as the inchoate American government was climbing out of the mountainous debt left over from the Revolutionary War, a thorny political problem emerged.  While most of the chattering class was consumed with the debate over whether the states’ war debt should be federalized, another far more visceral controversy arose.  Because the Continental Congress [...]

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Nov

12

$250 Million Worth of Fuss

Posted by: | November 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The U.S. Department of Education released the final rules Thursday for the high-stakes competition called the Race to the Top. That’s the $4.35 billion in grants to be given out in the next year to spur states to take major steps aimed at improving a host of aspects of schooling, including the quality of teachers [...]

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Nov

5

Obama’s Applause Lines on Education

Posted by: | November 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment

President Barack Obama’s 35-minute speech on education at Wright Middle School in Madison on Wednesday was interrupted by applause at many points, but most of the reaction was pretty low-key. Three lines drew what seemed to be more enthusiastic responses from the crowd of more than 500, most of them teachers, parents, and students at the 250-student school. Each of [...]

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Oct

14

President Chester A. Arthur and the Birthers, 1880’s Style

Posted by: | October 14, 2009 | 10 Comments

The Obama citizenship “debate” has surprisingly brought former president Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886) back into the pages of American newspapers, which is no small feat.  Unlike President Obama, who is clearly eligible to hold the nation’s highest office, Arthur, the twenty-first president (1881-84), may well have been an “unconstitutional” president. Although Arthur is frequently seen as [...]

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