My brilliant colleague Kate Haulman's new book is out today: The Mother of Washington in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford, 2025). I'm obviously biased but it is really exquisite!
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
12.09.2025 02:01 — 👍 25 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 1
When it addresses what history is most useful (founding-era) it raises an interesting q about Bruen's emphasis on *text*. Tho the court doesn't cite @jgienapp.bsky.social or Jud Campbell's work about the limited relevance of textual specification, that seems to be in the background of this worry.
27.08.2025 16:53 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Thanks! Much appreciated.
23.08.2025 15:40 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
If you're interested in constitutional governance (in this case US governance), I can strongly recommend this book from @jgienapp.bsky.social. Wonderfully lucid. And, as a (very) lay reader, I appreciated the reiterated arguments and the plain, pithy prose.
23.08.2025 08:44 — 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 0
Against Constitutional Originalism
A detailed and compelling examination of how the legal theory of originalism ignores and distorts the very constitutional history from which it derives inter...
7) In his new book @jgienapp.bsky.social argues that one cannot understand the Constitution without placing it into the contexts in which it was written-- none more so than the Founders' commitment to republicanism.
22.08.2025 15:39 — 👍 10 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
directly in the face of recent historical scholarship by Jud Campbell, @jgienapp.bsky.social, and others, that demonstrates how rights at the founding were not conceived of as these textual objects only secured once codified in a constitution.
20.08.2025 14:01 — 👍 17 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 1
Jonathan Gienapp
Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
📣 Catch OAH speakers Jonathan Gienapp & Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers in Sept at San Francisco St Univ! They'll be speaking Sept. 17 & 18 for SFSU’s Constitution & Citizenship Day Conference. #OAHLecturer
📅 history.sfsu.edu/constitution...
🎤 Bring a speaker to your campus! www.oah.org/lectures/upc...
23.07.2025 20:07 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Bilder on Constitutional Regicide
Mary Sarah Bilder, Boston College Law School, has posted Hater of Kings: Catharine Macaulay’s Constitutional Regicide and the Declaration of Independence, which is forthcoming in Americans in Revolution, ed. Tom Cutterham and Sara Georgini (University of Virginia Press, 2026):
Charles I (LC)
The American Revolution was a constitutional regicide. At first glance it does not much resemble a regicide. Charles I had been executed in 1649. George III went on to live nearly half a century beyond 1776. But read the Declaration of Independence carefully and notice how large the king looms. The “present King of Great Britain” aimed to establish “an absolute Tyranny.” The eighteen usurpations each began with He, the king. The king embodied two particular political typologies: Prince and Tyrant. As such, he was “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” This constitutional justification for regicide had been developed by British historian Catharine Macaulay in the fourth volume of her History of England. Macaulay’s history from James I to the execution of Charles I provided a historical model, theoretical explanation, and blueprint for would-be patriots. Because of Macaulay, on the far side of the Atlantic, American revolutionaries renounced their allegiance to the king–and to any king–without the complications and consequences of executing one.
--Dan Ernst
12.08.2025 06:13 — 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
It’s been a hell of a run. Being Editor of @lawandhistrev.bsky.social has been the greatest honor of my career. But it had to end some time. I’ll be stepping down as Editor by next summer. I’ll give proper thanks to LHR’s Associate Editors & ASLH folks in due course. What a bittersweet moment!
07.08.2025 13:49 — 👍 46 🔁 6 💬 3 📌 0
Hope you enjoy!
10.08.2025 20:59 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Balkinization: Gratitude, and a Reply in Two Parts
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
Today the Balkinization blog features my reflections at the end of its seven-scholar symposium on my new book The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power. You can find my short essay at the link below.
Many thanks to the participants.
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/grat...
25.07.2025 15:21 — 👍 13 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 1
The Rise of the Imperial Presidency
The once-obscure idea of a unitary executive is now central to debates over presidential power.
🚨Tuesday, Aug. 5 — Everything you need to know about the "Unitary Executive Theory" that's underwriting our new era of presidential lawlessness.
RSVP today 👇🏻 to get the link: brennan.swoogo.com/unitaryexecu...
@brennancenter.org @janemanners.bsky.social @jdmortenson.bsky.social @wuc3.bsky.social
25.07.2025 19:13 — 👍 29 🔁 16 💬 0 📌 1
27.07.2025 14:35 — 👍 489 🔁 47 💬 16 📌 4
So thrilled to see @jgienapp.bsky.social's important book on this phenomenal list! Congrats to all! 🎉
28.07.2025 16:27 — 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
Thanks!
28.07.2025 16:25 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A very informative book. Well-deserved recognition.
28.07.2025 16:22 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Thanks so much!
28.07.2025 16:25 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Does Good Originalism Need Good History?
One might think that originalism by definition is largely about history. After all, what does it mean to be "originalist" if not to be concerned prima
Interesting how originalists try to avoid historians' critiques. This, to me, is no more persuasive than the others. 'History' is what happened & our interpretations of it--you can't have a law of the past that isn't fundamentally yoked to trying to get that right.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
23.07.2025 15:56 — 👍 118 🔁 22 💬 11 📌 4
Balkinization: Why Did the Framers Enumerate Congressional Powers?
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
The final contribution to the Balkinization symposium on my new book *The Oldest Constitutional Question* is by Prof. John Mikhail of Georgetown. You can find it here:
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/why-...
@johnmikhail.bsky.social
Sometime soon, I'll post a response to all the symposium essays.
21.07.2025 00:51 — 👍 10 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 1
This only makes me more excited. 😉
17.07.2025 05:38 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Balkinization: Does Anybody Else Suffer from Enumerationism?
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
Today's contribution to the Balkinization symposium on my new book, The Oldest Constitutional Question, is by Penn's William Ewald, who writes about contrasts with the British and German constitutional systems. You can find Professor Ewald's essay here:
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/does...
12.07.2025 15:18 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Balkinization: Will Richard Primus Get the Readership He Deserves (and the Country Needs)?
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
The Balkinization blog has now posted commentary from Prof. Sandy Levinson (of the University of Texas) about my new book, The Oldest Constitutional Question. You can find Levinson's commentary at the link below.
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/will...
10.07.2025 17:02 — 👍 12 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
Symposium on Enumerated Powers
Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus reviews my book
This week on the Balkinization blog, several excellent scholars will post essays reacting to my new book about enumerated powers. I'm honored by their engagement.
The first essay, by Prof. Christina Ponsa-Kraus of Columbia, is linked below.
open.substack.com/pub/richardp...
09.07.2025 19:46 — 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Here is my essay, "The Many Meanings of Enumeration," on Richard Primus's important new book, *The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power*, as part of the symposium Balkinization is hosting on it.
12.07.2025 19:57 — 👍 10 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Terrific book. A new way to think about an issue I thought I had a good handle on. Essential reading from @jgienapp.bsky.social
12.07.2025 15:49 — 👍 15 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 0
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