Jonathan Gienapp
@jgienapp.bsky.social
Professor of History and Law, Stanford University. Books on early Constitution: http://tinyurl.com/yynk95aa; and originalism and history: http://tinyurl.com/3dd5hnt6
jonathangienapp.com
jonathangienapp.com
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Jonathan Gienapp
@jgienapp.bsky.social
· Feb 25
Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference)
Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference) [Gienapp, Jonathan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference)
www.amazon.com
Now that I am on here, a thread collecting events, discussions, interviews, and reviews connected to my new book, *Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique*, published by Yale University Press @yalepress.bsky.social.
www.amazon.com/Against-Cons...
www.amazon.com/Against-Cons...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
Andrea Katz explained this better than I could/did in this morning’s Times: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
(Great also to see shoutouts to the work of Historians Council members @jgienapp.bsky.social and @narosenblum.bsky.social)
(Great also to see shoutouts to the work of Historians Council members @jgienapp.bsky.social and @narosenblum.bsky.social)
January 21, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Andrea Katz explained this better than I could/did in this morning’s Times: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
(Great also to see shoutouts to the work of Historians Council members @jgienapp.bsky.social and @narosenblum.bsky.social)
(Great also to see shoutouts to the work of Historians Council members @jgienapp.bsky.social and @narosenblum.bsky.social)
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
Tomorrow, SCOTUS is hearing Trump v. Cook, a case involving President Trump’s attempts to remove Lisa Cook from the Fed. It’s a glaring example of the admin's coercive approach to power. And it could pose BIG problems, even if SCOTUS ultimately rules for Cook.
Walk with me...🧵⬇️@brennancenter.org
Walk with me...🧵⬇️@brennancenter.org
January 20, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Tomorrow, SCOTUS is hearing Trump v. Cook, a case involving President Trump’s attempts to remove Lisa Cook from the Fed. It’s a glaring example of the admin's coercive approach to power. And it could pose BIG problems, even if SCOTUS ultimately rules for Cook.
Walk with me...🧵⬇️@brennancenter.org
Walk with me...🧵⬇️@brennancenter.org
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
But this “Fed carveout” is bunk, as a historical matter.
Historians have also shown that the unitary executive theory is operating in a whole space of dubious history.
From @jgienapp.bsky.social:
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Historians have also shown that the unitary executive theory is operating in a whole space of dubious history.
From @jgienapp.bsky.social:
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Historians’ Amicus Brief in Trump v. Slaughter
Professors Jonathan Gienapp and Andrea Scoseria Katz, represented by Kaplan Martin LLP, filed a brief challenging the removal of a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.
www.brennancenter.org
January 20, 2026 at 7:26 PM
But this “Fed carveout” is bunk, as a historical matter.
Historians have also shown that the unitary executive theory is operating in a whole space of dubious history.
From @jgienapp.bsky.social:
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Historians have also shown that the unitary executive theory is operating in a whole space of dubious history.
From @jgienapp.bsky.social:
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
For anyone interested in how to confront originalism, this is an invaluable and FREE resource designed by folks who have been leading the fight. Please give this important manual a read and spread the word! @tomtmwolf.bsky.social @sam-breidbart.bsky.social @cisozaki.bsky.social
⏰NEW RESOURCE: In Countering Originalism: A Guide for Litigators, @sam-breidbart.bsky.social, @cisozaki.bsky.social, and I offer lawyers the strategies, arguments, and citations that they need to push back against originalist claims they encounter in court 🧵⬇️
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Countering Originalism
This guide offers lawyers strategies, arguments, and citations to address originalist claims they encounter in litigation.
www.brennancenter.org
December 12, 2025 at 2:37 AM
For anyone interested in how to confront originalism, this is an invaluable and FREE resource designed by folks who have been leading the fight. Please give this important manual a read and spread the word! @tomtmwolf.bsky.social @sam-breidbart.bsky.social @cisozaki.bsky.social
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
⏰NEW RESOURCE: In Countering Originalism: A Guide for Litigators, @sam-breidbart.bsky.social, @cisozaki.bsky.social, and I offer lawyers the strategies, arguments, and citations that they need to push back against originalist claims they encounter in court 🧵⬇️
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Countering Originalism
This guide offers lawyers strategies, arguments, and citations to address originalist claims they encounter in litigation.
www.brennancenter.org
December 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
⏰NEW RESOURCE: In Countering Originalism: A Guide for Litigators, @sam-breidbart.bsky.social, @cisozaki.bsky.social, and I offer lawyers the strategies, arguments, and citations that they need to push back against originalist claims they encounter in court 🧵⬇️
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
Sunstein posted an admirably frank essay yesterday on the Unitary Executive Theory:
How he participated in this elite bipartisan political consensus —
and how he has been persuaded by overwhelming historical evidence that he & other high-ranking lawyers were wrong.
open.substack.com/pub/casssuns...
How he participated in this elite bipartisan political consensus —
and how he has been persuaded by overwhelming historical evidence that he & other high-ranking lawyers were wrong.
open.substack.com/pub/casssuns...
The Unitary Executive
Notes on how people know things
open.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Sunstein posted an admirably frank essay yesterday on the Unitary Executive Theory:
How he participated in this elite bipartisan political consensus —
and how he has been persuaded by overwhelming historical evidence that he & other high-ranking lawyers were wrong.
open.substack.com/pub/casssuns...
How he participated in this elite bipartisan political consensus —
and how he has been persuaded by overwhelming historical evidence that he & other high-ranking lawyers were wrong.
open.substack.com/pub/casssuns...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
Council Member @jgienapp.bsky.social joined with Professor Andrea Scoseria Katz for a brief addressing, among other things, the historical evidence unearthed since the Court’s last major removal cases earlier this decade.
www.brennancenter.org/media/14714/...
www.brennancenter.org/media/14714/...
December 2, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Council Member @jgienapp.bsky.social joined with Professor Andrea Scoseria Katz for a brief addressing, among other things, the historical evidence unearthed since the Court’s last major removal cases earlier this decade.
www.brennancenter.org/media/14714/...
www.brennancenter.org/media/14714/...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
The fall semester has been SUPER busy for the members of the Historians Council on the Constitution. Walk with me through this 🧵for highlights from the historians' work on some of the most pressing legal issues of the day, from agency independence to voting rights... @brennancenter.org
December 2, 2025 at 5:38 PM
The fall semester has been SUPER busy for the members of the Historians Council on the Constitution. Walk with me through this 🧵for highlights from the historians' work on some of the most pressing legal issues of the day, from agency independence to voting rights... @brennancenter.org
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
Took about 20 years. And I never thought a book about enslavers using deputization to give themselves policing power would be relevant to our times. But we are where we are.
My book, White Power: Policing American Slavery, is now available for preorder.
a.co/d/29c7EIP
My book, White Power: Policing American Slavery, is now available for preorder.
a.co/d/29c7EIP
September 29, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Took about 20 years. And I never thought a book about enslavers using deputization to give themselves policing power would be relevant to our times. But we are where we are.
My book, White Power: Policing American Slavery, is now available for preorder.
a.co/d/29c7EIP
My book, White Power: Policing American Slavery, is now available for preorder.
a.co/d/29c7EIP
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
The publication date for my book on the history of policing American slavery has been moved up a month! Now available May 12, 2026! Thanks so much to those who have preordered! The Press is offering 30% off with the code, 01UNCP30
uncpress.org/978146969484...
uncpress.org/978146969484...
White Power
Beginning in the colonial era and growing through the American Revolution and the Southern plantation system, slaveholders’ violent police regime continued...
uncpress.org
November 20, 2025 at 11:55 AM
The publication date for my book on the history of policing American slavery has been moved up a month! Now available May 12, 2026! Thanks so much to those who have preordered! The Press is offering 30% off with the code, 01UNCP30
uncpress.org/978146969484...
uncpress.org/978146969484...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
It was such a privilege to work with @nwdonahue.bsky.social and the fantastic lawyers at Patterson Belknap on this amicus brief for the Slaughter case, about whether Trump can fire the commissioners of the FTC.
The brief recovers crucial history the Court and most lawyers have missed. 1/3
The brief recovers crucial history the Court and most lawyers have missed. 1/3
November 14, 2025 at 10:52 PM
It was such a privilege to work with @nwdonahue.bsky.social and the fantastic lawyers at Patterson Belknap on this amicus brief for the Slaughter case, about whether Trump can fire the commissioners of the FTC.
The brief recovers crucial history the Court and most lawyers have missed. 1/3
The brief recovers crucial history the Court and most lawyers have missed. 1/3
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
And this brief from @jgienapp.bsky.social and @andreascoseriakatz.bsky.social draws on recent scholarship to counter arguments that the president had settled, unfettered removal power in the early American republic: www.brennancenter.org/media/14714/...
www.brennancenter.org
November 14, 2025 at 10:35 PM
And this brief from @jgienapp.bsky.social and @andreascoseriakatz.bsky.social draws on recent scholarship to counter arguments that the president had settled, unfettered removal power in the early American republic: www.brennancenter.org/media/14714/...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
This brief from @narosenblum.bsky.social and @nwdonahue.bsky.social explores the history behind the terms used to describe which agencies are protected from presidential removal: www.brennancenter.org/sites/defaul...
www.brennancenter.org
November 14, 2025 at 10:35 PM
This brief from @narosenblum.bsky.social and @nwdonahue.bsky.social explores the history behind the terms used to describe which agencies are protected from presidential removal: www.brennancenter.org/sites/defaul...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
BREAKING: @janemanners.bsky.social, a legal historian and member of the Brennan Center’s Historians Council, filed a brief with the Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter, a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s attempt to remove a commissioner of the FTC without cause: bit.ly/4nSvm9B
November 14, 2025 at 8:39 PM
BREAKING: @janemanners.bsky.social, a legal historian and member of the Brennan Center’s Historians Council, filed a brief with the Supreme Court in Trump v. Slaughter, a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s attempt to remove a commissioner of the FTC without cause: bit.ly/4nSvm9B
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
New Symposium on my book is out in *American Political Thought*.
Featuring critical essays by James Stoner, Michael McConnell, Calvin TerBeek, and George Thomas.
Followed by my response.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...
Featuring critical essays by James Stoner, Michael McConnell, Calvin TerBeek, and George Thomas.
Followed by my response.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...
October 28, 2025 at 8:54 PM
New Symposium on my book is out in *American Political Thought*.
Featuring critical essays by James Stoner, Michael McConnell, Calvin TerBeek, and George Thomas.
Followed by my response.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...
Featuring critical essays by James Stoner, Michael McConnell, Calvin TerBeek, and George Thomas.
Followed by my response.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
A new paper from Gary Lawson & me:
"Presidential Removal as Article I, Not Article II"
Limits on congressional power to create independent agencies like the Fed & FTC don't come from Art II "Executive Power" absolutism.
See the Necessary and Proper Clause instead:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
"Presidential Removal as Article I, Not Article II"
Limits on congressional power to create independent agencies like the Fed & FTC don't come from Art II "Executive Power" absolutism.
See the Necessary and Proper Clause instead:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Presidential Removal as Article I, Not Article II
As a matter of original public meaning, Article I's Necessary and Proper clause is the starting point for both Congress's power to create offices and the limits
papers.ssrn.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:53 PM
A new paper from Gary Lawson & me:
"Presidential Removal as Article I, Not Article II"
Limits on congressional power to create independent agencies like the Fed & FTC don't come from Art II "Executive Power" absolutism.
See the Necessary and Proper Clause instead:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
"Presidential Removal as Article I, Not Article II"
Limits on congressional power to create independent agencies like the Fed & FTC don't come from Art II "Executive Power" absolutism.
See the Necessary and Proper Clause instead:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
New Symposium on my book is out in *American Political Thought*.
Featuring critical essays by James Stoner, Michael McConnell, Calvin TerBeek, and George Thomas.
Followed by my response.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...
Featuring critical essays by James Stoner, Michael McConnell, Calvin TerBeek, and George Thomas.
Followed by my response.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...
October 28, 2025 at 8:54 PM
New Symposium on my book is out in *American Political Thought*.
Featuring critical essays by James Stoner, Michael McConnell, Calvin TerBeek, and George Thomas.
Followed by my response.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...
Featuring critical essays by James Stoner, Michael McConnell, Calvin TerBeek, and George Thomas.
Followed by my response.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/apt/2025...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
Rejecting the Unitary Executive is out in the Utah Law Review! TY @blakeprof.bsky.social @thisyank.bsky.social @jgienapp.bsky.social @andreascoseriakatz.bsky.social @jdmortenson.bsky.social @jedshug.bsky.social
@narosenblum.bsky.social
& many others not on here
dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2025/...
@narosenblum.bsky.social
& many others not on here
dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2025/...
Rejecting the Unitary Executive
Critics have dismissed originalism as an empty methodology. They claim it is incapable of resolving our most important constitutional disputes, including the debate over the unitary executive. While u...
dc.law.utah.edu
October 22, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Rejecting the Unitary Executive is out in the Utah Law Review! TY @blakeprof.bsky.social @thisyank.bsky.social @jgienapp.bsky.social @andreascoseriakatz.bsky.social @jdmortenson.bsky.social @jedshug.bsky.social
@narosenblum.bsky.social
& many others not on here
dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2025/...
@narosenblum.bsky.social
& many others not on here
dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2025/...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
My brilliant colleague Kate Haulman's new book is out today: The Mother of Washington in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford, 2025). I'm obviously biased but it is really exquisite!
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com
September 12, 2025 at 2:01 AM
My brilliant colleague Kate Haulman's new book is out today: The Mother of Washington in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford, 2025). I'm obviously biased but it is really exquisite!
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
When it addresses what history is most useful (founding-era) it raises an interesting q about Bruen's emphasis on *text*. Tho the court doesn't cite @jgienapp.bsky.social or Jud Campbell's work about the limited relevance of textual specification, that seems to be in the background of this worry.
August 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM
When it addresses what history is most useful (founding-era) it raises an interesting q about Bruen's emphasis on *text*. Tho the court doesn't cite @jgienapp.bsky.social or Jud Campbell's work about the limited relevance of textual specification, that seems to be in the background of this worry.
Reposted by Jonathan Gienapp
If you're interested in constitutional governance (in this case US governance), I can strongly recommend this book from @jgienapp.bsky.social. Wonderfully lucid. And, as a (very) lay reader, I appreciated the reiterated arguments and the plain, pithy prose.
August 23, 2025 at 8:44 AM
If you're interested in constitutional governance (in this case US governance), I can strongly recommend this book from @jgienapp.bsky.social. Wonderfully lucid. And, as a (very) lay reader, I appreciated the reiterated arguments and the plain, pithy prose.