Experts in the News | Miller Center

The Constitution's blooper reel

In the course of writing the Constitution, the framers got a lot right, which is why, despite a civil war and any number of political crises, it survives as the longest-lasting written plan of government in the world, at 229 years. Still, in celebrating the document, we also need to be honest: It’s far from perfect.

Michael Nelson

Founding and Shaping of the Nation

The Constitution's blooper reel

Miller Center senior fellow Michael Nelson writes in the New York Times about the mistakes of our founding fathers.

Year of the Women

In the end, 2017 turned out to be a good year.

Oh, don't get me wrong – it was also a terrible year. From the travel ban to the tax plan to the nuclear saber-rattling to the move to turn press briefings into "The Big Lie Variety Hour," the opening year of the Trump administration was dangerous, cruel and profane. But for much of the year, the relentless focus on those things, important as they were, obscured a story that may prove to be of more lasting consequence: the women's backlash. If Jan. 20 was the start of a dark and troubling year, Jan. 21 was the start of a hopeful alternative.

Nicole Hemmer

Democratic base wants impeachment: But does anybody else?

“The Watergate affair turned conservative skeptics of Richard Nixon into hardcore supporters, drawing out the immediate crisis and deepening divisions in the long term,” historian Nicole Hemmer noted earlier this year. “Conservatives at the time refashioned the scandal into a tale of Democratic hypocrisy and media hostility — a narrative that many Republicans have adopted once again to explain away the emerging Trump scandals.”

Nicole Hemmer

How Ivanka Trump Is a Walking Billboard for Her Namesake Fashion Business

By owning a fashion business, she is in uncharted territory. “Ivanka Trump is testing the boundaries on federal rules that bar government employees from using their position to promote brands that personally enrich them,” says Guian McKee, an associate professor in presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.

Guian McKee

What Ever Happened to Donald Trump's Wall? It's in Pieces, in the Desert

“I’m not surprised, that a year into his presidency, we say ‘Gee, why hasn’t that wall been built?”’ said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “Well that was one of those things that was so outrageous that it was never going to happen.”

Barbara Perry