Nikolas Bowie

Article

The Separation-of-Powers Counterrevolution

The Article traces modern separation-of-powers jurisprudence to the Court’s reaction to Reconstruction. Converting Lost Cause dogma into the language of constitutional law, the Court sparked a counterrevolution that obscures, and eclipses, a more normatively compelling conception—one that locates in representative institutions authority to constitute the separation of powers by statute.

May 31, 2022
Article

The Constitutional Right of Self-Government

The Assembly Clause today serves little purpose. But long before the First Amendment’s drafting, American activists advanced what they called their right to “assemble” to defend their right to govern themselves. This Article argues that this right can be interpreted as a right to meaningfully participate in enacting needed legislation.

May 23, 2021