Law Profs Weigh In On The Hamilton/Pence/Trump Controversy

• New York Times, ‘Hamilton’ Cast’s Appeal to Pence Ignites Showdown With Trump
• New York Times, ‘Hamilton’ Had Some Unscripted Lines for Pence. Trump Wasn’t Happy.
• New York Times, ‘Hamilton’ Duel: Addressing the President-Elect on His Own Blunt Terms

Three law profs have weighed in on the controversy:

Dan Filler (Drexel), The Value Of The Pence Protest:

I know there is an active debate among progressives about whether the Hamilton audience and cast response to Mike Pence was appropriate or strategically counterproductive. My own take is that it is important to recognize Hamilton as a piece of explicitly political art, not an anodyne feel-good musical about a founding father. In both its content and its casting, it sends a political message that is in direct opposition to the views of the new administration. ... The response to Pence's visit to Hamilton was an utterly appropriate way to flag the deep inconsistency of Pence simultaneously embracing Hamilton and believing that immigrants are dangerous, that African-Americans are dangerous and that gay people have an illness that should be treated by conversion. And that's just a start.

Paul Horwitz (Alabama), Another View of Hamilton's "Politics":

What I find slightly more interesting and, given what I know about the political self-satisfaction of the class of people that can afford tickets to Hamilton, less likely to be noted outside of actual left or right circles, is what the decision to speak once necessarily implies about all the decisions not to speak. Every day, especially given both ticket prices and the nature of its audience and cultural appeal, Hamilton plays to an audience of neoliberals, militarists, wielders of economic power, beneficiaries of massive corporate corruption and economic and political inequality, people who exploit connections in a relatively closed circle of the rich and powerful, etc. And those are just the nights when Hillary Clinton catches the show! A substantial part of its consumer base and business model is brokers, corporate lawyers, legacy admits to the Ivy League, executives, managers, investors, media elites, and so on. Its audience base is people who can afford to complain about the help, or praise their nannies (who they may or may not pay well or legally), not the nannies themselves. No doubt the regular audience could do with a pointed extra-script lecture or two as well! But that would be bad for business, and disturb the audience-validating, as opposed to audience-challenging, function that is the essence of musical theater. None of this yet reaches Hamilton Inc.'s cozy relationship to President Obama, and the mutual benefits and ego-stroking that were involved in it. Maybe the PBS documentary cut this part out, but I don't recall the actors at the White House performance of Hamilton breaking script to say, "Mr. President, we, sir--we--can't help but notice that you have raided and deported the hell out of undocumented immigrants in record numbers. Also, what the [deleted] is up with the drones, or Syria, or...." I suppose that actually would have been seen as rude in people's eyes. But once you start picking and choosing your exceptions and special occasions, of course you are making a political statement, conscious or not, about all the morally complicit and dubious audiences you are happy to flatter, the number of questionable actions--deportations, assassinations, killings, etc.--you are willing to "normalize," and so on. 

Ann Althouse (Wisconsin), "That's What Freedom Sounds Like," Said Mike Pence To His Daughter As They Walked Into "Hamilton" To The Sound Of Boos:

Impressive. I add one point to the "good man" side of the ledger.

Ann Althouse (Wisconsin), Mike Pence Goes To See The Musical "Hamilton," And The Crowd Boos As He Walks To His Seat:

The actor delivering the lecture was Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr, the man who killed Hamilton.

Years ago, in a theater, a President of the United States was shot by a politically overheated actor.

I understand hustling Mike Pence out of that place.

As for me, I stand with Jillian Michaels:

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage of Hamilton:

• The Story Of Tonight: With Billion-Dollar Hamilton Poised To Sweep Tony Awards, Broadway Pushes For Tax Break Extension (June 12, 2016)
• What Hamilton Teaches Lawyers About Telling Our Story (Aug. 21, 2016)
• Lessons From Hamilton For The University Of Chicago Law School Class Of 2019 (Oct. 4, 2016)
• Law Profs At Chicago, Harvard And Michigan Turn To Hamilton As A Teaching Tool (Oct. 14, 2016)
• Greg Mankiw Happily Paid $2,500 For A Hamilton Ticket, But Asks: Why Should 80% Go To Resellers Rather Than Lin-Manuel Miranda? (Oct. 22, 2016)