Sunday Cherry Blossom Walk #2: Looking for Power in the U.S. and Finding Public Opinion

Join Prof. Joel Swerdlow ’74 for a series of walks and lectures about D.C.

Route: National Archives to Constitution Gardens to where the Supreme Court should be

On display at the National Archives—and treated as equal in importance to the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and Bill of Rights—are briefs from Marbury v. Madison.

We will explore how this case has become one of America’s most important conceptual exports to other democracies (hint: central to this story is the death of major civil rights legislation). We will also discuss what the Founders believed about war-making, and why we have not formally declared war since June 5, 1942. Finally, we will try to figure out why, at his confirmation hearings in 2006, now-Chief Justice Roberts refused to say whether Congress can end a war by cutting off funds.