???An Officer But Not a Gentleman???

Decades ago I had occasion to seriously think about and research the Disqualification Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

There is a reason: It is one of my favorite sections of the U.S. Constitution. So, I got in at the ground-floor.

I had a difficult time getting anyone interested in that topic, except my boss Archibald Cox, Jr. (I had yet to meet Larry Tribe,* a person with remarkable aptitude in the constitutional arts.) There is also a reason why few were interested: Nobody makes money with the Disqualification Clause and it is the type of subject that poses a risk of ticking-off some of the most powerful people in the world. Trying to get people involved in that style of legal scholarship is like saying, ‘Who wants to run through this blizzard of nails with me? I don’t know the way in and I don’t know the way out. And by the way, you’ll never use it in your careers, and it might bring you grief.’

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Tags: Gentleman