| This week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal centers around the Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which concerns the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi state law that prohibits abortion after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Court’s pivotal decision, which will be announced in the summer of 2022, could either affirm or overturn the controversial cases of Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and have wide-ranging effects across the nation. As Mark Sherman of the Associated Press reported prior to last week’s hearings, “Both sides are telling the Supreme Court there’s no middle ground in Wednesday’s showdown over abortion. The justices can either reaffirm the constitutional right to an abortion or wipe it away altogether.” At NPR, Nina Totenberg covers the first day of oral arguments, noting that the Republican-appointed majority fell into “two camps.” “In one were Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Gorsuch apparently willing to reverse Roe and perhaps other decisions based on a right to privacy. And in the other camp, the court's other three conservatives” – Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett – seemed more “reluctant” to overturn precedent on abortion jurisprudence. Adam M. Carrington gives five reasons at the Washington Examiner why the Court should overturn Roe and Casey. “Roe’s wreckage goes far and wide,” he argues, “in law and society. That wreckage deserves a reckoning.” At his Substack, C. Bradley Thompson continues his ongoing series on education, asking the important question: Is there a right to education? “The rights and responsibilities of children are connected to and dependent upon – indeed, they must overlap and are inseparable from – the rights and responsibilities of parents and vice versa.” He notes that since the relationship between children and their parents are so closely linked, “it is extremely difficult to sort out the precise boundaries between these two categories of rights. Ultimately, the challenge is to identify and define the three-way juridical relationship between parents, children, and the government.” Essential Reading Gordon Wood, ACTA It is a great honor to be here to receive the Philip Merrill Award from ACTA. For a number of years, I have been on the nominating... Daniel J. Mahoney, RealClearPublicAffairs It is hard to dispute the claim that the United States is a political and social order in the midst of an immense crisis. The old... In the News 1776 Unites Michael Poliakoff, Forbes Adm. Bill Owens, RealClearPolitics Galen Bacharier, Springfield News-Leader Pavlos Papadopoulos, Law & Liberty Valerie Richardson, Washington Times Jim Kelly, RealClearPolicy Howard Husock, The Hill Nina Totenberg, NPR Adam M. Carrington, Washington Examiner Dave Roos, History.com Alexander Riley, Chronicles Timon Cline, Anchoring Truths Garion Fankel, Martin Center for Academic Renewal Mark Sherman, Associated Press James Oakes & Martin DiCaro, History as It Happens Amid a national debate over history curricula and the importance of racism and slavery in shaping the American past, The 1619 Project... Hannah McCarthy & Nick Capodice, Civics 101 Americans often take issue with our two-party system. So what other options are out there? Today, with the help of political... Chris Flannery, American Story In January, 1835, the first volume of a book named Democracy in America was published inParis. It was a great critical and... John Wood, Jr., Braver Angels At the conference, Braver Angels' National Ambassador, John Wood, Jr., explored the responsibilities we have to each other... Gary S. Lawson, National Constitution Center In this session, students explore Article I of the Constitution, which defines the powers of Congress. This class examines constitutional... Paul McCartney, Bonnie M. Miller, Louis Pérez, & David Randall, National Association of Scholars In the late 1880s, the United States supported revolts in Cuba against Spanish colonial rule. Reports of concentration camps in Cuba... Carl Cannon's Great American Stories As in presidential politics, Hall of Fame voting results often strike outside observers as inexplicable (Jim Kaat, but not Danny ... Good morning, it's Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, the day of the week when I reprise quotations intended to be uplifting ... On Dec. 2, 1942, Harvard President James B. Conant, the man essentially functioning as White House science adviser, took an urgent ... | 