Paper
Constitutional Law
Legal Perspectives
May 2021
Law, Lawyers, and Literature
A three-part examination of the role of lawyers, natural and civil rights, and the value of non-legal literature in legal education. Part I analyzes E.M. Forster's Howards End alongside the law of coverture and the Trial of Mrs. Packard to expose the historical legal subordination of women. Part II argues that natural law and due process must override political expediency, examining the ticking time bomb scenario, the Alien and Sedition Acts, McCarthyism, COINTELPRO, and the Patriot Act through the philosophies of Locke, Hobbes, and Carl Schmitt. Part III, drawing on Kafka's The Trial, Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant," and Charles Reich's autobiographical reflections, distinguishes between the lawyer as mere "mechanic" — technically skilled but procedurally confined — and the lawyer as "architect" who draws on history, philosophy, and literature to build legal arguments grounded in justice and natural rights.
Legal EducationNatural LawClassical LiberalismCovertureDue ProcessLegal Philosophy
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Paper
Constitutional Law
Political Science
May 2020
A Discussion of Rights and the Constitution
This paper examines the sincerity of the United States Constitution regarding civil rights through the lens of Natural Law. In three parts, it analyzes: (I) how municipal law was used to undermine the natural rights of Native tribes, women, and enslaved Africans — arguing that despite these injustices, the Constitution's foundation in Natural Law provides the essential check against unjust legislation; (II) whether children's rights should be enumerated in the Constitution, concluding that only protection from involuntary servitude under the 13th Amendment is warranted, while a fundamental right to education is philosophically problematic; and (III) the Supreme Court's role in perpetuating and ultimately overturning slavery-era injustices, tracing the arc from Dred Scott v. Sandford through the Reconstruction Amendments to Brown v. Board of Education and Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States — demonstrating that Natural Law ultimately prevails over even the Court's most egregious holdings.
Natural LawCivil RightsConstitutional HistoryDred ScottReconstruction AmendmentsChildren's Rights
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Paper
Constitutional Law
Political Science
May 2017
Power: Lincoln and the People
This paper examines the nature of political power through Michel Foucault's power schema, arguing that authority is never truly possessed by a leader but is predicated on the agreed-upon philosophical truths of a society and its institutions. The analysis proceeds in three phases: first, the influence of religion on leadership through the biblical kingships of Saul and David and Xenophon's Cyrus, where divine providence justified authority; second, the secularization of governance through Machiavelli's The Prince, which shifted the basis of power from divine right to bureaucratic and popular support; and third, Abraham Lincoln's presidency, where the moral truth of equality enshrined in the Declaration of Independence confronted the institution of slavery. The paper argues that Lincoln's leadership was the product of pre-existing "truth discourses" within abolitionist and Protestant institutions, and that his recognition of these moral claims as legal precedent — culminating in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments — demonstrates that attending to the needs of the oppressed is the key to legitimate authority.
FoucaultLincolnPower TheoryNatural RightsConstitutional LawPolitical Philosophy
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Paper
Constitutional Law
Political Science
April 2025
It's Time for Term Limits
This paper argues that congressional term limits are the most effective remedy for the erosion of the separation of powers in American government. It traces how Congress has progressively abdicated its Article I legislative authority to federal agencies and the executive branch — a pattern reinforced by Chevron deference, party polarization, and the self-interest of career politicians. Drawing on the Federalist Papers, Supreme Court precedent including Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, and legislative proposals such as the REINS Act, the paper examines the structural incentives that drive congressional dysfunction. It proposes specific term limits — five terms (ten years) for House members and three terms (eighteen years) for Senators — designed to restore legislative accountability while maintaining governmental continuity, and explores the constitutional pathway of an Article V convention to enact them.
Term LimitsSeparation of PowersCongressional ReformChevron DeferenceConstitutional Law
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Paper
International Relations
Political Science
December 2024
From Independence to Hegemony
This paper examines the early foreign policy choices that shaped the United States' rise from a weak, newly independent state to a global hegemonic power, analyzed through the lens of neoclassical realism. Beginning with the Continental Congress's strategic exploitation of Franco-British rivalries, the paper traces how elites such as John Adams and Alexander Hamilton perceived American weakness and crafted foreign policy accordingly — from Adams's doctrine of "non-entanglement" to Hamilton's advocacy for centralized economic power and a national navy in the Federalist Papers. The analysis demonstrates how the ratification of the Constitution, the establishment of the U.S. Navy during the Barbary Wars, and the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine represented deliberate expansions of ambition corresponding to increases in material power. The paper concludes with a constructivist critique, arguing that neoclassical realism, while offering a more realistic analytical framework than pure systemic approaches, fails to account for domestic societal pressures — particularly the institution of slavery — that fundamentally shaped American foreign relations.
Neoclassical RealismU.S. Foreign PolicyMonroe DoctrineAmerican IndependenceIR Theory
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Paper
International Relations
Political Science
May 2025
Hegemonic Power
This paper argues that hegemonic power emerges naturally in economically interdependent international systems when one nation-state's population and economy enable it to develop superior military capabilities. Drawing on neoclassical realism and hegemonic stability theory, the paper demonstrates how hegemons secure trade routes, benefit from reserve currency status, and leverage soft power more effectively than multipolar or bipolar alternatives. Through historical analysis of the Macedonian, Roman, and British empires, the paper traces a recurring pattern: surplus production, military infrastructure, standardized currency, and protected trade networks. It then examines the United States' ascension to hegemonic status — from the Declaration of Independence through the Monroe Doctrine and World War II — arguing that this transition occurred peacefully as nations willingly abdicated power to the U.S. for market efficiency. The paper concludes that the United States bears legal and ethical responsibilities as hegemon, particularly in enforcing international anti-slavery laws and maintaining good-faith economic policies, to preserve the stability of the global order.
Hegemonic Stability TheoryNeoclassical RealismReserve CurrencyInternational TradeU.S. Foreign Policy
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