Constitution Daily Blog
Reconstruction
Blame Abraham Lincoln for the nation’s first national Income Tax
Most people aren’t big fans of a national income tax, but it was on this day back in 1861 that the first one was levied by the…
Did Congress invade the judicial power to protect a pipeline?
A political deal to secure the vote of a Democratic senator in the recent debt ceiling battle has teed up a U.S. Supreme Court…
The Supreme Court’s other recent major civil rights decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent and surprising voting rights decision overshadowed another civil rights victory that same day, a…
A look at landmark Supreme Court cases on race and the Constitution
As the U.S. Supreme Court considers two important cases about affirmative action and higher education, Constitution Daily looks at…
10 fascinating facts about President Ulysses Grant
Today marks the birthday of Ulysses Grant, who played a unique role in American history. Here is a look at a military leader who…
On the day, Justice Noah Swayne confirmed by the Senate
On this day in 1862, Noah Swayne was confirmed by the Senate to replace Justice John McLean, one of two dissenters in the Dred…
On this day, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed
On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the landmark Voting Rights Act, a centerpiece of the civil rights movement that…
Looking back at the Ku Klux Klan Act
The Ku Klux Klan Act may be a law from the Reconstruction era, but it still relevant today as a way to address modern civil rights…
How we wound up with the income tax
Imagine a world with a federal income tax; if you were an American citizen before 1913, with a few exceptions you didn’t have to…
The Constitution offers another path to Trump accountability
The 25th Amendment is a non-starter in the effort to remove President Donald Trump from office. Impeachment may stall in the U.S.…
