My new essay in Civitas Outlook tries to trace modern-day constitutional law to that fateful day twenty-five years ago.
Every generation has a defining moment. For my generation, it was September 11, 2001. But a quarter century later, more than 30 percent of Americans have no living memory of 9/11. The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have wound down, Guantanamo Bay is mostly closed, and Ground Zero is a museum. Young law students, in particular, might even think that this historical event has no meaningful impact on the law today. Not quite. Indeed, but for September 11, 2001, and the events that followed, constitutional law likely would be unrecognizable today.
Perhaps the most salient connection concerns the Supreme Court's executive power decisions:
