Below 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.
Trump’s Pardons Make the Unimaginable Real
By Tim Naftali, Clinical Associate Professor of Public Service, New York University
Tim Naftali details the history of former President Richard Nixon’s deliberations about whether to pardon Watergate co-conspirators and himself, and suggests Donald Trump may cross the line that Nixon never did by issuing himself a pardon.
Trump’s Pardon of Manafort Is the Realization of the Founders’ Fears
By Paul Rosenzweig, Founder, Red Branch Consulting
Paul Rosenzweig explains how George Mason’s prescient warning at the Constitutional Convention that the pardon power could be abused by a president to pardon people connected to his own wrongdoing has come to pass with Donald Trump.
How Raphael Warnock Came to Be an Abortion-Rights Outlier
By Mary Ziegler, Stearns Weaver Miller Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law
Mary Ziegler tells the story of how supporters of abortion dropped faith-based arguments in favor of it as opponents adopted constitutional arguments against it, how those opponents ultimately used religious arguments, and how religious African Americans have become more pro-choice.
We Can’t Let Our Elections Be This Vulnerable Again
By Richard L. Hasen, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science, University of California, Irvine
Richard L. Hasen lays out a series of reforms, such as states passing laws to bar their legislatures from sending rival slates of electors to the Electoral College, to secure our elections against nefarious domestic actors who seek to overturn the results of democratic elections.
America Is Nearing the End of Law
By Robert Black, Writer and Legal Scholar
Robert Black argues that the Trump legal team and some Republicans’ theories on overturning the election are not simply wrong, they are made without any interest in adhering to the law, and that spells dark days ahead for America.
The Entire Point of the 25th Amendment
By Brian C. Kalt, Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law
Brian C. Kalt writes that the essential aspect of the 25th Amendment is that if the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet say that a President is unable to discharge their duties, and the President contends otherwise, the Vice President remains Acting President until Congress settles the dispute.
