Bad Blood on the Hill

Donald Wolfensberger at The Hill: While much is made of the “assaults and affrays” that occurred in Congress during the run-up to the Civil War, the precedents are filled with other incidents that took place during other periods in our history. Most of these are...

The Speakership Problem

Donald Wolfensberger at The Hill: Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) introduced a resolution (H. Res. 787) last Monday to elect McHenry to that elevated role with a sunset date of Nov. 17, or upon the election of a Speaker. The prospect of such a hybrid speakership, however,...

Impeachment Surge

Donald Wolfensberger at The Hill: In 2008, David E. Kyvig, a professor of history at Northern Illinois University, published “The Age of Impeachment: American Constitutional Culture Since 1960.”  In his preface, Kyvig says the purpose of the book is to answer “why...

Lessons from the 1990s

Don Wolfensberget at The Hill: The principal lesson that emerged from the Gingrich period was that the newly energized majority began to take its victory hubris so seriously that it forged boldly ahead with its grand plans, oblivious to the potential pitfalls along...