Admit that I can’t tell you, with any degree of precision, what makes some jokes funny.  Attempts to explain what makes some things funny are usually doomed to failure. I’m better at explaining what makes some things unfunny. And it turns out that for many … read more.

Chief Justice Roger Taney’s 1857 opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford has justifiably been called the worst single decision of the United States Supreme Court, and in the years since the opinion was published it has been repudiated repeatedly.  The very name of the case now serves … read more.

September 17th is Constitution Day in America.  It’s been eleven score years and ten since the founders finished their work after a long, hot summer in Philadelphia.  How should we think about the Constitution today?  Is it our very present help in times of trouble?