Recent WLR Forward Articles
No Third Term: Rejecting the Nonconsecutive Loophole
The text of the Twenty-Second Amendment seems clear that a president cannot be elected to a third term: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” This Essay looks further to the history surrounding the Twenty-Second Amendment, an exercise sometimes employed by judges, particularly those who favor the constitutional interpretive method of originalism. History shows that a president cannot be elected to a third term on the theory that the previous terms were nonconsecutive.
March 31, 2026Pocket Constitutions: America’s Founding Document in Small Print
For a document that is usually found behind glass casing in museums and galleries, many have taken advantage of the ability to carry it in their purse, wallet—or better yet—their pocket. The US Constitution is one of the oldest and shortest constitutions in the world. This brevity comes with significant advantages: it is easily accessible, it could be read before your coffee gets cold, and it could also be mass produced on a large scale. Indeed, as the insights, commentary, and controversies regarding the American Constitution continue to get larger and more sophisticated in the 21st century, this brief 18th century text seems more relevant than ever. But in part, this renaissance is coming in pocket form through the mass production and distribution of pocket US Constitutions.
December 7, 2025Executive Branch Forum Shopping
Courts agree that the federal government may not seize a person in the United States and immediately ship them off to a prison in another country without providing any opportunity for judicial review. But this basic constitutional rule has proven difficult to enforce in court. The challenge comes not only from a defiant Executive Branch, secret orders, and midnight transfers, but also defense-side agency forum shopping. As soon as the Supreme Court held that challenges to designation and removal under the Alien Enemies Act must be brought in the district of confinement, the federal government moved detainees away from districts issuing protective orders to districts that have declined to act, necessitating a dramatic late-night intervention from the Supreme Court. This story is an especially vivid example of defense-side Executive Branch forum shopping, a phenomenon that has gone largely unnoticed and unstudied.
November 9, 2025- More Forward Articles