The Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization (AHI) congratulates alumnus Thomas Cheeseman on the publication of his essay (co-authored with James F. Blumstein) “State Empowerment and the Compact Clause.”  It appears in the March 2019 issue of the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal.

A 2012 graduate of Hamilton College, where he majored in economics, Cheeseman joined AHI his freshman year and eventually led its undergraduate fellows program.  AHI President Robert Paquette called Cheeseman “a voracious reader of great books and one of the best young minds he had ever taught.  I know of no one who scored higher than Thomas on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) during my thirty-seven years of teaching.”

AHI Alum Thomas Cheeseman, J.D.

He earned his J.D. on scholarship from the Vanderbilt University Law School in 2016. He currently serves as an attorney that specializes in corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions for Dechert LLP, a global law firm.

In the essay, Cheeseman and Blumstein argue that the Compact Clause (Article I, section 10, clause 3) allows “Congress to exercise its consent power” without presidential involvement in the legislative process either to approve legislation or to veto it. They interpret the Compact Clause in a way that would allow states to conduct experiment on vital issues without the application of federal executive regulatory control.

In the acknowledgments, Mr. Cheeseman thanked Paquette and AHI Charter Fellow Douglas Ambrose for their mentoring.