Back in the 1960s, the Smothers Brothers made fun of President Lyndon Johnson and his policies many times on their popular television show. The president wrote them a letter in response.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon on Chicago: "[Greg Bovino] was filmed lobbing a tear gas canister into a crowd...deliberately trying to provoke a confrontation."

Historians Don't Think a US Civil War Is Likely—but They're Still Nervous. “The fabric of what binds America together at this point is basically on its final thread,” www.wired.com/story/path-t...

Fascinating new exhibit in Los Angeles deepens the conversation about Confederate monuments. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

This week’s SCOTUS argument focused on whether remedies under Section 2 of the VRA violate the 15th Amendment. But in this issue of The Refounding, I wrote about how remedying racial gerrymandering under Sec 2 is also consistent w/the aims of Section 2 of the 14th Amend. medium.com/@TheRefoundi...

LISTEN: @legaldefensefund.bsky.social President & Director-Counsel @janainelson.bsky.social responds to Justice Kagan’s question asking what would be the result if the Court adopted Louisiana’s view about Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. “It would be catastrophic.”

This morning SCOTUS heard Louisiana v. Callais, a case that could reshape the Voting Rights Act. In The Refounding, @sifill.bsky.social breaks down what’s at stake and why it matters. medium.com/@TheRefoundi...

When art moves with purpose, creativity becomes a catalyst for change. Ava DuVernay, Yara Shahidi, and John Legend’s conversation urgently called for us to see art anew as movement. To align what we make with what we believe and to create work that truly moves the world forward

So true. The Reconstruction anti-canon.

A critical premise of the work of the 14th Amendment Center is that we are all founders & framers of the future of democracy in this country. Prof. Kate Andrias channels that spirit in this excellent op-ed. GIFT LINK www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

At @VisionandJustice NOW, @EJI founder Bryan Stevenson explained how 15 years ago he came to understand that civil rights litigation would not be enough. “We couldn’t win Brown v Board of Education today.” Stevenson created the @legacysites.eji.org in Montgomery, spurred by this realization.

Why is “Art & Imagination” one of the 4 Pillars of the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy’s work? At the Vision & Justice Now gathering in NY this week I explained what civil rights litigators know about the power of culture in shaping narrative. @howardlawschool.bsky.social @visionandjustive

LISTEN: So appreciate @leahlitman.bsky.social, @profmmurray.bsky.social, & @kateshaw.bsky.social for allowing NYT columnist @jamellebouie.net & I to join them in a deep dive about the ongoing attempt to derail the promise of the 14th Amendment. Begins at min 57:00. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Big 14th Amendment news. Aren’t you glad you joined our webinar? www.cnn.com/2025/09/26/p...

Thanks to all who joined the 14th Amendment Center for our seminars on birthright citizenship last week. Kudos to seminar faculty MarthaJones, @katemasur.bsky.social, Robert Chang at @korematsuctr.bsky.social,Jessica Levin at Seattle Law & Bethany Li @aaldef.bsky.social @howardlawschool.bsky.social

Our founder @sifill.bsky.social delivered the keynote at @howard.edu’s 158th Convocation & received the Presidential Medal of Achievement. She reminded students: “It’s planting time… we have the duty to remake democracy.” Watch her full remarks www.youtube.com/live/1YedCX5...

#OnThisDay in 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act is signed into law as part of the Compromise of 1850. You can view a printing block that was used to advertise runaway slaves in newspapers in our exhibit #CivilWarAndReconstruction. Credit: Courtesy of Angelo Scarlato

Last night the 14th Amend Ctr had a terrific opening session on birthright citizenship w/historians Martha Jones & @kate.masur.TONIGHT is Part Two w/a great line-up of scholars & advocates. It’s not too late to register. howard.zoom.us/webinar/regi... @aaldef.bsky.social @korematsuctr.bsky.social

Are you ready? Class is about to be in session. howard.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Bluesky's chief operating officer, @rose.bsky.team, tells The Times the platform is going strong but engagement is more important than user numbers or monetising

There are a few more showings this month of “Becoming Thurgood.”Check your public television station schedule. Marylanders, MPT is showing it at 7pm tonight.

TONIGHT on PBS: Becoming Thurgood Marshall: America’s Social Architect premieres at 10ET/9C. The film traces the life + legacy of the nation’s first Black SCOTUS justice, with never-before-heard interviews + insights from civil rights leaders + scholars, including our founder @sifill.bsky.social

Have you registered for the free webinar on birthright citizenship yet? It’s time to learn what’s at stake. We cannot protect it if we don’t understand it. howard.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

“On September 8, 1910, the Texas House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution encouraging U.S. senators and congressmen to work toward repealing the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to Black people born in the U.S.” calendar.eji.org/racial-injus...

We’re proud to launch The Refounding, the 14th Amendment Center’s new newsletter! Stay connected with legal updates, scholarship & events that illuminate the past, present & future of the 14th Amendment. Read the first installment written by our founder @sifill.bsky.social medium.com/@TheRefoundi...

Keep demanding more and better from our country. Let the promise of the 14th Amendment, and the vision of its framers, guide you.

Who was Albert Pike? A General in the Confederate Army. Later described as “the chief judicial officer of the KKK.” Declared, “the white race, & that race alone, shall govern this country. It is the only one fit to govern, and it is the only one that shall.” www.npr.org/2025/08/05/n...

BREAKING: Finding that “the only way to afford complete relief to the certified class is to enjoin enforcement of the [birthright citizenship EO]” (& w/specific reference to the concerns of Justice Alito), the fed district court in MD granted a nationwide injunction against enforcement of EO 14160.

Today SCOTUS ordered the parties in the Louisiana racial redistricting case to submit briefing on the question of whether the creation of majority-Black districts in order to comply w/ Sec. 2 of the Voting Rights Act violates the 14th & 15th Amendments. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

Truly fine article refuting fly-by-night restrictive theories of birthright citizenship and false historical narratives. Weaving in the destructive Dunning School of Reconstruction scholars who perpetuated Lost Cause narratives is brilliant & sobering. bsky.app/profile/anth...

Yes, the First Amendment protects noncitizens, too—and this has been the law for eighty years, even if many people are suddenly pretending it’s an open question. www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/07/aaup...

This is scandalous. The El Paso SPC is one of the few ICE detention centers owned by ICE itself. Members of Congress cannot legally be turned away from ICE facilities when conducting oversight. Yet these emails say Noem herself is deciding when and how Members can conduct oversight.

I am gratified to see that the @nytimes.com has changed the copy to accurately affirm the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Wow.

A Mississippi sheriff’s department came under fire two years ago after a group of deputies known as the Goon Squad admitted to torturing people. Our reporting shows federal authorities had evidence of problems at the department for years but rarely chose to act.

Four former corrections officers at a West Virginia jail were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three years to more than two decades for their roles in the fatal beating of an inmate there three years ago, prosecutors said.

The FBI is said to be using lie detectors to test employees’ loyalty, asking some whether they have criticized Kash Patel.

@nytimes.com Change this. Birthright citizenship has been the law of our country for 157 years per the explicit language of the 14th amendment t to the Constitution.

Yesterday marked 157 years since the #14thAmendment was ratified—guaranteeing birthright citizenship, equal protection, and due process. Our founder, @sifill.bsky.social, curated a list of essential books and films to explore the history and lasting power of the 14th Amendment.

BREAKING: www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

A wonderful morning yesterday at Bank Street College of Education in NY, teaching educators about the 14th Amendment and seeing a wonderful play by young actors about censorship in the classroom. Thanks to Amy Stuart Wells, Basil Smile & the team at the Building Education & Democracy Conference.

Organized, robust, discussions of democracy were taking place as post Civil War amendments were added to the Constitution. We love hearing how Colored Conventions counter the majority’s take on originalism + its limits by @jamellebouie.net @dahlialithwick.bsky.social and @sifill.bsky.social