The previous post pointed out that the recent case of Trump v. Slaughter raised fundamental questions about the essence of executive power under the Constitution and the foundation of separation of powers for the structure of constitutional government. The text of the Constitution: Article II and the “Executive Power” (or “Vesting”) Clause To address these questions, one…

            As the media celebrated and played up what they saw as rebukes by the Supreme Court to the Trump administration over birthright citizenship and the firing of a Federal Reserve official, it was unsurprising that a potentially more significant victory for the President and for constitutional government received little attention. The case is Trump v. Slaughter,…

            The first two paragraphs are the best known part of the Declaration of Independence. The first three sentences of the second paragraph, proclaiming five self-evident truths, have been fundamental in forming the American identity or, as some might say, the American mythos. They also have provided a conceptual framework within which crises as well as…

            The semiquincentennial of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of “the thirteen united States of America” on July 4, 1776, is upon us. This is a fancy way of saying that one-half of five hundred years has passed since that day. Most of us simply say 250th anniversary. However phrased, the event that day…

            As predicted in my June 17 post, as well as by many others, including President Trump himself, the Supreme Court today overturned the executive order which prevented birthright citizenship for children born in the United States, if their foreign parents were here only temporarily or if neither parent of such a child was a U.S.…

             There are two recognized types of war, war between nations (“international war”) and war within a nation (“civil war”). In a civil war, some portion of the inhabitants forcibly seeks political change. The goal is to replace the existing constitutional government with their own by taking over the entire structure or by separating themselves and…