Joshua Claybourn is an American attorney, author, and historian considered one of the foremost living scholars on Abraham Lincoln’s youth in Indiana.

Career

Legal work

Claybourn is an attorney with the law firm of Jackson Kelly representing governmental entities and officials, as well as businesses and corporations. Citing Article 1, Section 2 of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

, Claybourn appeared before the Indiana Election Commission and successfully challenged a 23-year-old person's legal right to appear on the ballot as a candidate for Congress in Indiana's 8th congressional district. Together with Abby DeMare, he argued in the ''

Indiana Law Review The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (IU McKinney) is located on the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana, the urban campus of Indiana University. In the summer of 2 ...

'' for greater checks and balances on executive branch emergency powers. Claybourn served as co-counsel in a civil suit against the State of Indiana and Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, alleging that Governor Holcomb exceeded his authority under the Constitution of Indiana when he issued certain executive orders in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing Governor Holcomb's rescission of the subject executive orders, the trial court dismissed the complaint as moot and the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed.

Historian and pundit

Claybourn is considered one of the foremost living scholars on President Lincoln’s youth in Indiana. He appeared as an expert in the six-part CNN documentary ''Lincoln: Divided We Stand.'' Claybourn is editor of ''Abraham Lincoln's Wilderness Years'', a compilation of significant scholarship from J. Edward Murr covering Lincoln's youth. He is co-editor (with

William Bartelt William Bartelt, often referred to as Bill Bartelt, is an American historian and author based in Newburgh, Indiana. He is considered the greatest living scholar on Abraham Lincoln's youth in Indiana. Early life and education Bartelt graduated ...

) of ''Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President'', providing source material from the Indiana Lincoln Inquiry. Claybourn also served as a research assistant to Professor Gerard Magliocca during his work on ''Andrew Jackson and the Constitution: The Rise and Fall of Generational Regimes''. Claybourn edited ''Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative'' ( Potomac Books, 2019), a collection of essays by theorists, historians, and politicians addressing the possibility of a shared narrative within a country divided by political polarization. Contributors to the project include

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, Gordon S. Wood, John Danforth,

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David Blight David William Blight (born 1949) is the Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. Previous ...

, Markos Moulitsas, Alan Taylor,

Eleanor Clift Eleanor Irene Clift ('' née'' Roeloffs; born July 7, 1940) is an American political journalist, television pundit, and author. She is a contributor to MSNBC and blogger for ''The Daily Beast''. She is best known as a regular panelist on ''The ...

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, Ilya Somin, Cherie Harder, Gerard Magliocca, Jason Kuznicki, Cody Delistraty,

Spencer Boyer Spencer Phipps Boyer is an American foreign policy, national security, and international law and relations expert who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO in the Biden administration. Previously, Boyer served in t ...

, Ali Wyne, and

James Wertsch James V. Wertsch (born May 16, 1947) is the David R. Francis Distinguished Professor and Director Emeritus of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy at Washington University in St. Louis. Education and career Wertsch received an A.B. in ...

. ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' wrote that the book's "responses are all over the map, provocatively so" and called it a "mixed-bag collection".

Politics

Claybourn, named one of the 250 most influential leaders in Indiana, often serves as a political advisor. He was cited as a "key supporter" of Congressman Larry Bucshon of and was a principal adviser to Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke's campaign and was a part of Winnecke's 2012 transition team. In 2016, Claybourn was selected as an Indiana delegate to the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken Lo ...

, but a day after Donald Trump's win in the Indiana primary which made Trump the party's presumptive nominee, Claybourn was one of the first to resign his position as a delegate because he "could not in good conscience attend a coronation and celebration of Donald Trump". ''The New York Times'' noted Claybourn would have been bound to vote for Trump on the first ballot, "a step he said he simply could not stomach". In a statement Claybourn said, "Donald J. Trump is the Republican Party's nominee. But he will not be my nominee, and I will not attend a convention celebrating his candidacy."

Publications

* Claybourn, Joshua A., ed. ''Abraham Lincoln's Wilderness Years: Collected Works of J. Edward Murr''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2023. * Claybourn, Joshua A., ed. ''Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative''. Lincoln: Potomac Books, 2019. * Bartelt, William, and Joshua A. Claybourn, eds. ''Abe’s Youth: Shaping the Future President''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019. * Claybourn, Joshua A., ed. ''Born of Clay: The Story of the Claiborne · Claybourn · Clayborn Families in the United States''. Evansville: Claybourn Genealogical Society, 2016.

References

External links

Personal home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claybourn, Joshua Living people American male bloggers American bloggers American lawyers American political commentators Indiana Republicans Politicians from Evansville, Indiana Never Trump movement 1981 births Historians of Abraham Lincoln Historians from Indiana American male biographers