Today is Juneteenth. It is still relatively new as a federal holiday, and is unfamiliar in a lot of the country. But it is an old holiday. As I explained in 2021, it has been popularly celebrated in some parts of the country since Reconstruction, and while I generally dislike the expansion of the list of mandatory holidays, its topic -- the liberation of American slaves - is a fit one for celebration, especially given that we scandalously fail to observe Lincoln's birthday as a national holiday.

One facet we should bear in mind: Juneteenth celebrates the enforcement of law. Slaves ...