Category: Constitutional Law
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Cruel and Unusual Camping: How the U.S. Supreme Court Reopened the Door to Status Crimes
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On June 28, 2024, the United States Supreme Court took a wrecking ball to a Ninth Circuit holding and stopped just shy of overturning one of the Court’s most famous opinions: Robinson v. California. Robinson held the government cannot criminalize the status of drug addiction because “status crimes” constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the…
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Sun, Sand, SCOTUS: Summer 2024 Supreme Court Decisions Review
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Trump v. Anderson Opinion March 4, 2024 – Ruling 9-0 In this case, the Court rejected Colorado’s attempt to bar former President Donald Trump from running for another term under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits insurrectionists from holding office and ruled that the states may not bar the former president from running…
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Free Speech Argument Offers New Life to Death Care Providers
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Over the last century, occupational licensing has been an unstoppable frate that has shown no signs of slowing. In the 1950s, only 5% of the American workforce was required to obtain a license before selling goods or performing services in their selected profession.[1] As of 2023, this number has risen to an astonishing 25%.[2] Such…
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Partisan Redistricting: The Longest Running Voting Rights Issue of the United States
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“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”[i] This statement, made in the Declaration of Independence, clearly indicated that the purpose of defying Great Britain and creating the United States was to no longer prescribe to any theory of government besides one elected and consented to by those governed. While…
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Major Questions Remain About the Major Questions Doctrine After Biden v. Nebraska
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June 2023 was rife with U.S. Supreme Court decisions on hot button issues. Debt relief, affirmative action, and protections for LGBTQ+ people, for example, were all at the forefront of minds and the national conversation. While Biden v. Nebraska is most notable for settling the debate around the student debt relief plan proposed by the…
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The Potential—and Significant—Shift in Judicial Deference to Agency Statutory Interpretation
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A massive change to administrative law could be on the near horizon. On May 1, 2023, the Supreme Court decided to revisit the test that determines the level of deference given to agency statutory interpretation.[1] The test, announced in Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. National Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), is two-pronged, asking: (1) has…
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Everyone and Their Mother: Pursuing Protections for Pregnant Workers
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This past June, new legislation went into effect that reflects a response to decades of discrimination against pregnant and new mothers in the workplace.[1] The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”), which will be administered and enforced by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), requires public and private sector employers with more than fifteen employees to provide…
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Moral Turpitude And The Instinct To Survive: What A Science Fiction Novel Teaches About Who Gets To Vote And Why
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The only people who have the necessary level of social responsibility to vote intelligently are those who have demonstrated a willingness to place themselves in the line of fire to protect their society. At least, that is the central philosophy of Robert A. Heinlein’s classic, controversial novel, Starship Troopers.[1] The right to vote—the “sovereign franchise”—is…
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Send In The Clones: Looking To The Future Of Constitutional Cloning.
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Creating life has been the boogieman of science fiction for over two centuries.[1] Since Mary Shelly first introduced the mad Victor Frankenstein’s desire to create life from lifelessness, we’ve wondered if one day humans could create artificial life or exact replicas of themselves; what horrific Ship of Theseus would such a creation cause?[2] Fearmongering about…
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Berenson V. Twitter : Did Twitter Lose In Federal Court On “Censorship” Grounds? Not Quite.
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Alex Berenson is an author and journalist. As its title suggests, criticism abounds for his newest book, Pandemia: How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives.[1] To others, Berenson is a hero—a “free speech” martyr in the putative war against “big tech.” On Twitter, Berenson questioned the ability of mRNA vaccines to stop the virus’ transmission or…