Field Notes on the Republic

Juneteenth, and the Distance Between a Law and Its Arrival

Juneteenth, and the Distance Between a Law and ...

Michael Fowler

The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. The enslaved people of Texas did not learn of their freedom for two and a half years. Juneteenth marks that gap,...

Juneteenth, and the Distance Between a Law and ...

Michael Fowler

The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. The enslaved people of Texas did not learn of their freedom for two and a half years. Juneteenth marks that gap,...

Equal Protection, the Fourteenth Amendment's Quiet Revolution

Equal Protection, the Fourteenth Amendment's Qu...

Michael Fowler

Some of the most powerful sentences in American law are also the shortest. A close reading of the Fourteenth Amendment's sixteen words on the equal protection of the laws, what...

Equal Protection, the Fourteenth Amendment's Qu...

Michael Fowler

Some of the most powerful sentences in American law are also the shortest. A close reading of the Fourteenth Amendment's sixteen words on the equal protection of the laws, what...

Why the Electoral College Has Serious Defenders

Why the Electoral College Has Serious Defenders

Michael Fowler

Few features of American government are argued about more heatedly than the Electoral College. This essay sets out the case for it, the argument its serious defenders actually make, grounded...

Why the Electoral College Has Serious Defenders

Michael Fowler

Few features of American government are argued about more heatedly than the Electoral College. This essay sets out the case for it, the argument its serious defenders actually make, grounded...

The Naturalization Oath, Read Closely

The Naturalization Oath, Read Closely

Michael Fowler

Every naturalized citizen takes an oath, and most citizens by birth have never read it. It is the clearest statement we have of what citizenship actually asks: allegiance not to...

The Naturalization Oath, Read Closely

Michael Fowler

Every naturalized citizen takes an oath, and most citizens by birth have never read it. It is the clearest statement we have of what citizenship actually asks: allegiance not to...

Caucus, the Most American Word Nobody Can Trace

Caucus, the Most American Word Nobody Can Trace

Michael Fowler

Every four years, a single word climbs the dictionary lookups: caucus. It is one of the most distinctly American words in the language, and nobody knows where it comes from....

Caucus, the Most American Word Nobody Can Trace

Michael Fowler

Every four years, a single word climbs the dictionary lookups: caucus. It is one of the most distinctly American words in the language, and nobody knows where it comes from....

The Case for Reading the Constitution Narrowly

The Case for Reading the Constitution Narrowly

Michael Fowler

When the Supreme Court hands down a decision, the deeper argument is about how the Constitution should be read at all. This essay takes up the case for reading it...

The Case for Reading the Constitution Narrowly

Michael Fowler

When the Supreme Court hands down a decision, the deeper argument is about how the Constitution should be read at all. This essay takes up the case for reading it...