Damon Root

I’m thrilled to report that my latest book now exists in “advanced uncorrected” form. EMANCIPATION WAR: THE FALL OF SLAVERY & THE COMING OF THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT, officially available in hardcover and e-book on June 1, 2026!

On this day in 1865, the Union army captures the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Leading the long column of Federal troops into the city is a regiment of African-American soldiers, many of them former slaves.

Trump wants SCOTUS to adopt a tortured and unpersuasive new theory that rests on a different word that appears nowhere in the text of the Constitution and, as Gorsuch noted, is also strikingly absent from the relevant congressional debates. reason.com/2026/04/02/gor…

If Gorsuch, Barrett, and Roberts remain as skeptical of the government’s position as they sounded during oral arguments, Trump’s executive order is in big trouble.

Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship violates the text, history, and original meaning of the 14th Amendment. Today, we will get our first indications as to what the Supreme Court’s self-described originalists will do about it. reason.com/2026/03/31/tru…

For today’s INJUSTICE SYSTEM newsletter, I wrote about old Roscoe Conkling, the notorious senator and New York political boss who twice declined an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, including saying no to the job of chief justice. reason.com/2026/03/19/ros…

Rand Paul is making sure that everyone who votes to nominate this completely unqualified person to head DHS knows exactly what they are getting: a person who thinks violence is a joke and will provide no oversight over an out-of-control department

Pre-order your copy today amazon.com/Emancipation-W…

I’m thrilled to report that my latest book now exists in “advanced uncorrected” form. EMANCIPATION WAR: THE FALL OF SLAVERY & THE COMING OF THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT, officially available in hardcover and e-book on June 1, 2026!

On this day in 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines land at Da Nang to provide protection for the nearby air base. They are the first American combat troops deployed to Vietnam.

The one and only ⁦@KenLayne⁩ stops by to talk about Revolutionary providence, God’s secret fog, and George Washington’s fantastically named dogs. wethefifth.com/p/the-revoluti…

BOOM! @wethefifth already out with a trademark @damonroot breakdown of today's momentous SCOTUS ruling(s) on emergency presidential tariffs: wethefifth.com/p/a-big-beauti…

SCOTUS got it right.

First scene I thought of when I heard Robert Duvall died — Tom Hagen saying goodbye to Frankie Five Angels in THE GODFATHER PART II.

MEANWHILE: Judges across the country continue rejecting the 5th circuit's view of ICE's detention authority. Here is Indiana-based Trump appointee Damon Leichty. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

The federal agents who shot Alex Pretti are heavily shielded from being sued. Blame the Supreme Court for that. reason.com/2026/01/27/the…

JD Vance isn’t this stupid, so what he’s doing here is deliberate and evil. You don’t just need “some kind of warrant” to enter a home. You need a warrant from the judiciary. He knows this. He knows they’re breaking the law when they enter a home with an administrative warrant. He uses the phrase “administrative law judges” to mislead. An administrative warrant comes from DHS. They are writing their own “warrants,” which makes them no more valid under the Fourth Amendment than if a random person wrote on a piece of paper, “I can enter your house.”

"Your position that there's no judicial review, no process required, no remedy available," Justice Kavanaugh told Trump's solicitor general, "I mean, that would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve.” reason.com/2026/01/22/bre…

JD Vance claims ICE agents have “absolute immunity” from state prosecution. Supreme Court precedent says otherwise. reason.com/2026/01/13/no-…

No, ICE agents do not have “absolute immunity” from state prosecution. reason.com/2026/01/13/no-…

OTD Jan 7, 1891: Zora Neale Hurston is born. Novelist, folklorist, and one of the great American stylists. Her work insists on individual agency in a way that still feels unflinching. @damonroot wrote a very good piece on her “inconvenient individualism” in a 2022 issue of @reason : reason.com/2022/05/22/zor…