This makes me think of a really interesting recent article by @ericjeisner.bsky.social about the pressure in southern legal systems to permit testimony from Black witnesses, because it was often helpful to white litigants and the white community. www.cambridge.org/core/service...

As @ericjeisner.bsky.social and I explain here, the Constitution is only as strong as the people who breathe life into its words. That's why John Tyler could get away with an unconstitutional claim to be president—an error that has stuck. If we don't stand up for the Constitution, it quickly erodes.

Often, the media treat the Constitution as an inviolable, external limit on political life. There is no need to take seriously Trump’s musings about a 3rd term, they assume. The Constitution forbids it. The Constitution forbid Tyler from claiming the presidency, too. www.hnn.us/article/the-...

🗃️ Read @ericjeisner.bsky.social and @dfroomkin.bsky.social on John Tyler and how “the Constitution is only as strong as the people who breathe life into its words.” www.hnn.us/article/the-...

Check out Part III for why even the cynical anti-democratic textual argument doesn’t hold up on its own terms — with thanks to @dfroomkin.bsky.social and @ericeisner.bsky.social papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Now in a reputable news outlet. If you want careful legal analysis for why this wordsmithing fails on its own terms, see @dfroomkin.bsky.social and @ericeisner.bsky.social’s great article on Officers (link below). But don’t let these conmen piss on your leg and tell you it’s raining.

As @ericjeisner.bsky.social and I have argued, the word “election” in the Constitution does not refer exclusively to a popular election. That's why the pre-Seventeenth Amendment Constitution could understand the selection of Senators by state legislatures as an “election.”

The idea that there is a "loophole" in the Twenty-second Amendment, such that someone can serve a third term as President without being "elected," is wrong. The argument misunderstands how the Constitution uses the word "election." The word "election" just means the selection of an official.

We are going to need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to sort out the wreckage of the Trump administration.

Just posted: "The Substitution Clause," in which @ericjeisner.bsky.social and I argue that the Constitution's so-called Succession Clause is known by a misnomer. An officer performing the duties of an incapacitated President only acts as President; she does not become President. Comments welcome!

I was going to wait to share my latest until it had passed through SSRN moderation, but apparently it is already getting downloads. In this paper, @ericjeisner.bsky.social and I investigate the overarching structure of the Constitution's officer/office provisions. papers.ssrn.com/abstract=502...