ASLH Public Statements

In 2024, President Barbara Welke convened an ad hoc committee to offer guidelines for issuing or joining statements. The committee recommended criteria and processes, and the policy was approved with amendments by the Board in November 2024. These criteria and processes will be posted on the ASLH website, and the President will present them to the membership during the 2025 meeting. The website will also contain a list of all public statements that the ASLH has either issued or endorsed.

From time to time, the ASLH issues statements on matters of public importance, joins statements crafted by other organizations, or signs on to amicus briefs. The ASLH only issues or endorses statements that are closely related to its core mission as a society “dedicated to enriching the field of legal history though the scholarly study of the role of law across time, around the world, and with a wide variety of methods.” As such, the ASLH takes public positions on matters related to legal historical research and teaching, accurate representations of legal historical scholarship, and on the preservation of and access to legal and historical materials.

The ASLH’s process for endorsing statements goes through the President. Any member or organization wishing to have the ASLH endorse a statement should write to president@aslh.net. If the President judges that the statement fits within the guidelines above, the President will call a vote of the Executive Committee (the President may also initially convene an ad hoc committee for advice). Only in cases of consensus among the Executive Committee will a statement be endorsed; in the absence of consensus, the entire Board may be consulted. If the Board is asked to vote, a 2/3 majority is necessary for the statement to be endorsed. Once endorsed, the statement will be made publicly available on the website and publicized through direct email communication with members when appropriate.

Endorsed Statements (2019-present)

Committee on Documentary Preservation’s letter regarding destruction of personnel records at Travis Air Force Base (Feb 2025)

American Historical Association/Organization of American Historians statement expressing dismay that the Supreme Court declined to take seriously historians’ expertise in Dobbs decision (June 2022)

American Historical Association/Organization of American Historians statement concerning violations of the Presidential Records Act (Feb 2022)

ASLH amicus curiae brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (Spring 2021)

ASLH joins amicus curiae brief in Lepore v. United States (April 2021)

ASLH statement on White House Conference on American History (Sept 2020)

ASLH joins amicus curiae brief in Pitch v. United States (Sept 2019)