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This two-part Common Sense Paper explains the history of Presidential succession both prior to and following the ratification of the 25th Amendment.  Part 1 focuses on the early history of Presidential succession, from the ratification of the Constitution until 1967.  This paper (Part 2)…

This two-part Common Sense Paper will explain the history of presidential succession both prior to and following the ratification of the 25th Amendment.  Part 1 focuses on the early history of presidential succession, from the ratification of the Constitution until 1967, which illustrated the need…

The U.S. Constitution lays out our system of checks and balances among the branches of the federal government as a way to ensure no branch would become too powerful.  The ultimate check on the executive branch is the impeachment clause in Article II, Section 4:…

On Tuesday, the Colorado State Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s Republican presidential primary ballot due to his supposed violation of the “insurrection clause” of the 14th Amendment. This decision, which overturned a previous state appellate court…

In addition to textualism and originalism, there is another theory of constitutional interpretation: living constitutionalism. Living constitutionalism, sometimes called pragmatism, is often described as a more progressive method of constitutional interpretation. The primary aim of this method is to ensure that rulings always favor the…

Ever since the inception of our constitutional system, there have been a wide array of different theories regarding how the Constitution ought to be interpreted. Textualism—arguably the most basic theory—holds that one ought to interpret the Constitution solely by its text. Thus, textualism requires an…

The debt limit is the amount of money the government is authorized to borrow in order to meet its existing legal obligations.  The current legal debt limit is $31.4 trillion, and since January 19, 2023 the Department of Treasury has engaged in “extraordinary measures”…