Battle for the Constitution: Week of August 17th, 2020 Roundup

Here is a round-up of the latest from the Battle for the Constitution: a special project on the constitutional debates in American life, in partnership with The Atlantic.

The Constitution Is Perfectly Clear About Citizenship

By Garrett Epps, Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law

Garrett Epps writes in response to a recent op-ed questioning if Senator Kamala Harris is in fact eligible to be Vice President that she unequivocally is and that birtherism should have no place in our national discourse.

I’m a Historian. I see Reason to Fear—And to Hope.

By Joanne Freeman, Class of 1954 Professor of American History and of American Studies, Yale University

Joanne Freeman says she is scared for the future of the American Republic, but also has reason to believe in the potential for progress.

The U.S. Shouldn’t Get to Decide If a Navajo Man Dies

By Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Foundation Professor of Law and Director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center, Michigan State University College of Law and Tamera Begay, Assistant Prosecutor, Puyallup Tribe

Matthew L.M. Fletcher and Tamera Begay argue that Lezmond Mitchell, a citizen of the Navajo Nation who was convicted of committing murder in the tribe’s territory, should not be put to death by the United States federal government because the Navajo Nation does not allow the death penalty.