Of Course Legacy Admissions Should Follow Affirmative Action to the Grave
There is no reason for public universities to grant preferential treatment to the scions of their alumni.
Supreme Court
Supreme Court on Affirmative Action: 'Eliminating Racial Discrimination Means Eliminating All of It'
In a 6–3 decision, the Court ruled that race-based affirmative action in college admissions violates the 14th Amendment.
The Unsurprising Affirmative Action Decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard
The Court's core ruling is unsurprising, but its future effects are uncertain.
Steve Calabresi on Moore v. Harper
Leading originalist constitutional law scholar comments on the Supreme Court's recent rejection of independent state legislature theory.
Supreme Court Refuses To Expand the 'True Threats' Exception for Free Speech
Plus: Maine prostitution measure becomes law, "significant misconduct" in jail where Epstein hung himself, Mike Pence defends free markets, and more...
Supreme Court Confirms That State Legislatures Can't Ignore the Constitution When Writing Election Rules
Chief Justice John Roberts decisively rejected the independent state legislature theory.
SCOTUS Case Could Quash Democrats' Wealth Tax Plans
Plus: Why people believe doomer narratives, schools seek to define social media platforms as public nuisances, and more...
Why a Supreme Court Justice Who Always Votes for One Type of Litigant isn't Necessarily Biased
Justice Gorsuch has never voted against Native American interests in a Supreme Court case. But that probably isn't because he's biased in favor of Indians. He simply believes that much existing precedent in this field is biased the other way.
Supreme Court to Consider Scope of Congress's Taxing Power under the 16th Amendment
The question presented is whether the 16th Amendment authorizes Congress to tax unrealized sums without apportionment among the states.
What's Left Standing of Special Solicitude for States After U.S. v. Texas?
The Supreme Court did not overturn the standing holding of MAssachusetts v. EPA, but it may have left it on life support.
Predicting Case Authors and Outcomes as the Supreme Court Hits the Home Stretch
Some worth-what-you-paid-for-them predictions for the final(?) week of SCOTUS opinions.
Supreme Court Rejects 'Extraordinarily Unusual' Case Against Biden's Deportation Policy
Today’s decision “is narrow and simply maintains the longstanding jurisprudential status quo,” wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh for the majority.
Supreme Court's Sidestep Leaves Native Kids Without Answers
While intended to keep Native families together, the ICWA subjects American Indian children to a lower level of protection than is enjoyed by non-Native kids.
A Year Post-Dobbs, Major Shifts in Abortion Access and Politics
Plus: Court rules against judge who threw child stars in jail during parents' custody dispute, inside the FTC's attempt to stop Microsoft from acquiring Call of Duty, and more...
A Troubling Supreme Court Habeas Decision
The Supreme Court was wrong to deny relief to a man imprisoned for activity that Court's own rulings indicate was not illegal - one who never had an opportunity to challenge his incarceration on that basis.
Why Is It So Hard for Victims of Police Abuse To Get Justice?
Joanna Schwartz on how law enforcement "became untouchable"
Justice Thomas Had No Majority Opinion from October Sitting, But Still Wrote More Than Any Other Justice
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson may speak the most at oral argument, but Justice Thomas is writing more pages.
Supreme Court Sides With Jack Daniel's Against Doggy Chew Toy Company
It's not a broad attack on free expression, but Thursday's ruling is certainly a victory for brands that can't take a joke.
Supreme Court Reaffirms Strong Presumption of Statutory Stare Decisis
It did so in today's Voting Rights Act ruling in Allen v. Milligan. This holding has implications for other cases where litigants attempt to overturn statutory precedents, especially longstanding ones.
Disarming a Man Based on a Nonviolent Misdemeanor Was Unconstitutional, the 3rd Circuit Rules
The decision highlights the injustice of a federal law that bans gun possession by broad categories of "prohibited persons."
The Biden Administration Still Insists That Cannabis Consumers Have No Right to Arms
As pot prohibition collapses across the country, that policy is increasingly untenable.
Is Encouraging Illegal Immigration Protected by the First Amendment?
Criticizing the law by calling for people to break it is an American tradition.
A Connecticut Couple Challenges Warrantless Surveillance of Their Property by Camera-Carrying Bears
The lawsuit looks iffy in light of the Supreme Court's "open fields" doctrine.
The Supreme Court Is Not in a 'War on Science'
The Supreme Court is agnostic on questions of science, but clear and resolute on questions of law.
Does a Footnote in Sackett II Indicate How SCOTUS Will Resolve the Affirmative Action Cases?
Could the Court treat Justice Powell's Bakke opinion the way it treated Justice Kennedy's Rapanos opinion?
The Source of Law in Tyler v. Hennepin County
a sub silentio invocation of the general law and positive law approaches
My New Brennan Center Article on Tyler v. Hennepin County and the Cross-Ideological Case for Stronger Judicial Protection for Constitutional Property Rights
The Tyler home equity theft case is just the tip of a much larger iceberg of property rights issues where stronger judicial protection can protect the interests of the poor and minorities, as well as promote the federalist values of localism and diversity.
Supreme Court Reins in EPA Overreach
Thanks to Sackett v. EPA, the feds can no longer treat a backyard puddle like it's a lake.
In Sackett v. EPA, the Supreme Court Cuts Back Federal Regulatory Authority Over Wetlands
The Clean Water Act decision was a unanimous win for the Sacketts, and a 5-4 victory for Justice Scalia's 2006 Rapanos v. United States plurality.
Major Unanimous Supreme Court Victory for Property Rights in Tyler v. Hennepin County
The Supreme Court ruled that home equity theft qualifies as a taking, and that state law is not the sole source for the definition of property rights. The ruling is imprecise on some points, but still sets an important and valuable precedent.
The County Sold Her Home Over Unpaid Taxes and Kept the Profit. SCOTUS Wasn't Having It.
"The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but no more," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts.
The Perils of 'Rule by Indefinite Emergency Edict'
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch highlights a vital lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Border Patrol Shoots and Kills Arizona Man Who Called Them for Help
The FBI is investigating the shooting, but Supreme Court precedent from last year's Egbert v. Boule will make it nearly impossible for Raymond Mattia's family to find justice through civil courts.
Summary Reversal of Sixth Circuit in Calcutt v. FDIC Reaffirms the Importance of Chenery I
A welcome reminder that reviewing courts must judge the propriety of agency actions solely by the grounds invoked by the agency.
Supreme Court: Andy Warhol's Prince Prints Not 'Transformative' Enough for Fair Use
The case could have long-term implications for how broadly fair use can be applied.
Gorsuch Condemns 'Breathtaking' COVID Emergency Powers That Crushed Civil Liberties
"Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country," Gorsuch wrote. That might be an exaggeration, but it isn't far off.
Section 230 Is Safe (for Now) After Supreme Court Rules on Google and Twitter Terrorism Cases
Plus: A new lawsuit in Montana over the state's TikTok ban, the economic realities of online content creation, the rights of private companies, and more...
Supreme Court Swats Down Attempts To Hold Twitter, Google Financially Liable for Terrorism
The narrow rulings concluded the platforms aren’t responsible for bad people using their communication services.
Alabama Botched His Execution. Now He Wants To Die Differently.
On Monday, the Supreme Court sided with an Alabama death-row inmate who, after surviving a botched lethal injection attempt last year, says he wants to die by gas chamber instead.
New Jersey's Restrictions on Public Gun Possession Are 'Plainly Unconstitutional,' a Federal Judge Says
The state defied a Supreme Court ruling by banning guns from myriad "sensitive places."
Doctors Detail Dangerous Pregnancy Care in States With Abortion Restrictions
Plus: APA says social media not inherently harmful for kids, senators propose Artificial Intelligence Regulatory Agency, and more...
Ron DeSantis Confirms (Again) That His Attack on Disney Was Political Retribution
He either doesn't understand or won't admit why this violates the First Amendment.
Age Restrictions on Handgun Sales Are Unconstitutional, a Federal Judge Rules
U.S. District Judge Robert Payne concluded that 18-to-20-year-olds have the same Second Amendment rights as older adults.
Supreme Court to Consider Whether Members of Congress Have Article III Standing to Sue Federal Agencies
The Supreme Court has accepted certiorari in Carnahan v. Maloney to consider whether members of Congress can sue to force disclosure of information from the General Services Administration.
Justice Kavanaugh Still Wants to Hear More Cases (Revised)
Justice Kavanaugh continues to support granting certiorari in cases his colleagues do not wish to hear.
SCOTUS Chooses California Over Pork Producers and Bacon Consumers (and Issues Four Other Opinions Too)
The Supreme Court issues five merits opinions, but there are still forty more waiting.
Will Separation of Powers Doom Biden's Student Debt Plan?
Biden v. Nebraska has far-reaching implications for presidential power.
