Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board – Guest Essayist: James D. Best

Today's essay at Constituting America is Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, which which settled the 2000 presidential election.

The 2000 presidential election came down to who won Florida. Twenty-seven days after the election, the presidency remained undecided. Surrogates for George W. Bush and Al Gore clashed in a close-quarters fight that seemed to have no end.  Both parties persisted and refused to yield. The media filled nearly every broadcast moment and column inch of newsprint with the maneuvers and shenanigans of both parties. The pursuit of minutia, gossip, and a major scoop drove wall-to-wall reporting of the countless twists, turns, and skirmishes.

 You can read or listen to the entire essay here.

7th Annual 90-Day Study

District of Columbia v. Heller ... Essay at Constituting America

Guest Essayist: James D. Best

Today's essay at Constituting America is District of Columbia v. Heller, which ruled on a long-simmering conflict about the meaning of the 2nd Amendment.

District of Columbia v. Heller provided clarity to a long and quarrelsome debate about the application of the Second Amendment. The crux of the case was whether the right to “keep and bear arms” was an individual right or a collective right associated with regulated militias. The Supreme Court (5-4) ruled the Second Amendment an individual right.

You can read or listen to the entire essay here.

7th Annual 90-Day Study

Home Building & Loan v. Blaisdell (1934) – Guest Essayist: James D. Best

Home Building & Loan v. Blaisdell (1934) started the modern trend of interpreting the Constitution to support popular passions. You can read the essay here or listen to it below.

The United States Supreme Court: Landmark Decisions & The Justices Who Made Them

This year, Constituting America's 7th annual 90-Day Study is The United States Supreme Court: Landmark Decisions & The Justices Who Made Them. As in previous years, I'll write a few essays for this year's study. You can read all of the essays here.

Constituting America is committed "to reach, educate and inform America's citizens and youth about the importance of the U.S. Constitution." They do a great job.

The First Presidential Campaign—George Washington, 1788-89

The following essay was first published in Constituting America.

George Washington won the first presidency under the newly established Constitution. He ran unopposed, professed not to want the job, and remained for the most part at Mount Vernon, yet won unanimously. Many believe he never campaigned, but instead acquiesced to a call to duty from his countrymen. Perhaps it was not so simple.

People think of Washington as a man of honor who won a war through strength of character and perseverance, and as a president who didn’t cling to power. From our perspective in time, he appears etched-in-marble and stiff as a board. Washington was tall, stately, reserved, and preoccupied with his reputation, but he also loved to dance, play cards, socialize over meals, and attend the theater. He was a superb horseman, ran his plantation with a sharp eye for profit, and attended church regularly. Washington was a vibrant, athletic man who wanted most of all to be loved by his countrymen.

Washington was the preeminent politician of his age and maintained good relationships with all the significant people in the country. To say he didn’t campaign for the presidency is to ignore decades of relentless politicking. (When Dwight Eisenhower was told he was not a politician, he replied that no one could become General of the Army without being a politician.) Washington bragged he never ate alone, made sure he was a central figure in all the founding events, collected a cadre of bright and capable people, and understood branding well before Madison Avenue had a clue.

The Intrigue of Presidential Elections

Tomorrow, Constituting America will initiate its sixth annual 90 Day Study. You can read previous essays here. Those prior essays address:

1. The Federalist Papers,
2. The Constitution,
3. The amendments,
4. Classics that influenced the Constitution
5. Erosion of checks and balances.

Constituting America is co-chaired by Janine Turner and Cathy Gillespie.

This year’s study is titled: The Intrigue of Presidential Elections and Their Constitutional Impact, A Study of America's Past 56 Presidential Elections: 1789-2012.

I feel privileged to again be invited to participate with some of the best constitutional scholars in the nation.