Articles written by David Adler
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We the People - Justice Holmes: a legend before joining the Supreme Court
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once said, “If American law were to be represented by a single figure, skeptic and worshipper alike would agree without dispute that the figure could be one alone, and that one, John Marshall.” It has been...
We the People: Trump use of Scottsboro Boys case inapt and reckless
Former President Donald Trump’s invocation of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in the Scottsboro Boys cases (1931) as justification for delaying his trial on charges related to the subversion of the 2020 federal election, was sharply rejected by t...
We the People - Justice Joseph Story: Most scholarly of justices
Justice Joseph Story stands as a giant among those who have held a seat on the Supreme Court. Story was one of the greatest legal figures in the 19th Century, in the upper echelon of everyone’s list of outstanding judges in American history and...
We the People: Chief Justice Marshall: unpretentious, modest and humble
Those Americans in the early years of the republic who idolized the elegant, regal and graceful bearing of English judges, could be forgiven their initial doubts about the potential of Chief Justice John Marshall to lead the Supreme Court. Although...
We the People: "John Marshall: The great Chief Justice transforms the Court"
Two centuries after his service to the United States as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, virtually no one doubts John Marshall’s preeminent status in America law. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, widely regarded as deserving of a seat on a...
Justice James Wilson: leading constitutional architect
It was altogether fitting that James Wilson, second in importance only to James Madison as an architect of the Constitution, would be nominated by President George Washington to the original Supreme Court. From this position, Justice James Wilson cou...
We the People: August 7, 2023
John Jay: first Chief Justice, diplomat, founding era giant When the newly-elected President George Washington turned his attention to the historic opportunity of nominating citizens to fill seats on the first U.S. Supreme Court in 1789, he knew...
We the People: July 31, 2023
Judicial profiles to better understand the Supreme Court We citizens know a lot about our presidents – their background, philosophy and character – and sometimes more than we care to know. The same is true of our congressional representatives....
We the People: July 24, 2023
“Constitution does not shield presidents from defamation suits” The Justice Department’s announcement this week that the Constitution does not shield presidents from civil lawsuits stemming from a president’s defamatory remarks represents...
"Declaration of Independence: advancing American ideals"
The Declaration of Independence – its words, elements and ramifications – remains profoundly relevant in America. As the founding document of the world’s longest running democracy, and the ultimate expression of the ideas, values and...
"Court rejects radical legislative theory, defends democracy"
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s repudiation of the “independent state legislature” theory in Harper v. Moore. The widely-admired conservative judge, J. Michael Luttig, called it “the most important...
"Trump trial challenges American democracy and rule of law"
A reader’s question has captured the history-making nature of the forthcoming trial of former President Donald Trump. “What are the implications of the trial for the Constitution, presidential power and the rule of law?” The gravity of the...
"Trump trial tests the Framers' Constitution and the rule of law"
“What are the implications of the trial of Donald Trump for the Constitution, presidential power and the rule of law?” a reader asks, adding another important question: “Did the Framers of the Constitution adequately limit presidential...
We the People: June 19, 2023
Why Congress may impose ethics code on Supreme Court justices Rising calls for Congress to enact new ethical standards for the Supreme Court, sparked by recent revelations that Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose financial transactions, have...
"Reader asks: How do we rein in Supreme Court justices?"
A reader recently wrote to ask a question on the minds of many Americans: “If the courts check the other branches of government, who checks the courts?” The reader continued: “Since the Supreme Court enforces constitutional limits on the...
Is posting the Ten Commandments in schools constitutional?
The continued revival of interest among state legislatures in posting the Ten Commandments in public schools may present to the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to reverse yet another decades- old, landmark precedent, this time one that prohibits su...
We the People: May 29, 2023
“Presidential power, the 14th Amendment and the public debt” The debt ceiling standoff between President Joe Biden and House Republicans has illuminated the public debt clause of the 14th Amendment, one of the most obscure provisions in the...
"In defense of clergy, the court strikes blow for religious liberty"
In 1977, in McDaniel v. Paty, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling that held unconstitutional one of the last anticlerical remnants of the founding era, a 1796 Tennessee law that prohibited ministers and priests from holding public...
Church and state: The court prohibits religious tests for office
Delegates to the Constitutional Convention, as part of their commitment to separating church from state, unanimously adopted a clause in Article VI, declaring that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a qualification to any Office or...
We the People: The Supreme Court's first big decision on state powers
In February 1793, in Chisholm v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court, fully mindful of the evolving political and legal tensions surrounding the nature of the nation-state relationship, rendered its first important decision on the scope of state...
We the People: Justin Chase's impeachment and judicial independence
In its first and only impeachment trial of a Supreme Court justice, the U.S. Senate in 1805 acquitted Samuel Chase of charges against him, a historic decision that raises profoundly important questions about judicial independence and accountability...
We the People: April 24, 2023
Applying impeachment clause to Supreme Court justices National conversations surrounding the remote possibility of impeaching Justice Clarence Thomas for accepting – and failing to report – lavish gifts from a GOP billionaire with interests...
Trump's case: When novel theories become legal principles
Defendant Donald J. Trump and his supporters have assailed the 34-count felony indictment of the former president brought by the Manhattan District Attorney as resting on a flimsy, untested and novel legal theory that converts Trump’s alleged...
U. of Wyoming Transgender lawsuit: Who is a woman?
A federal lawsuit reflective of the nationwide culture wars is challenging the right of a University of Wyoming sorority to induct a transgender woman, raising questions of central importance to the First Amendment Right of freedom of association...
We the People: Vulnerable to indictment, Trump's cases subject to the law
Former President Donald Trump has said he expects to be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury any day now. Although widely anticipated, there is no certainty that he will be indicted by grand jurors in New York or, for that matter, by citizens serving...