Commentaries by Professor Eric Segall

The Court Will Not Save Us, So Congress Must: Supreme Court Politicking, From Dred Scott to Trump

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The Court Will Not Save Us, So Congress Must: Supreme Court Politicking, From Dred Scott to Trump

Professor Eric Segall

January 11, 2024 12:54:46 pm

Our Supreme Court is now and has always been a political and ideological institution. But the Court fares the worst when it engages in naked partisan politics strongly favoring one side. Congress should take this political question out of the hands of the justices and remove Trump’s disqualification from state ballots pursuant to the last [...]

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Dreyfus convicted of treason

On December 22, 1894, Jewish French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial trial that prompted worldwide allegations of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was later cleared. Learn more about the case of Alfred Dreyfus and read an English translation of the famous public letter J'Accuse...! by novelist and Dreyfus partisan Emile Zola.

US passed Embargo Act, banning foreign trade

On December 22, 1807, the Embargo Act was passed at the urging of US President Thomas Jefferson. The act barred trade with any foreign nations in an effort to avoid American entry into the Napoleonic Wars of Europe. However, the act proved unenforceable and was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act, which barred trade with France and Great Britain. Learn more about the Embargo Act of 1807 from Monticello.org