Pride Is a Triumph of the First Amendment
Free speech, assembly, and protest—not government action—have powered LGBTQ+ progress in America.
Supreme Court
Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges - A Great Civil Rights Milestone that Could be Even Better
The Supreme Court's ruling striking down laws banning same-sex marriage was a great victory for liberty and equality. But it should have been based on better legal reasoning.
A Supreme Court Course Correction for NEPA
The significance of the Supreme Court's decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County
Sotomayor Is Right. Trump's 'Third Country Removals' Raise Serious Due Process Worries.
The liberal justice faults the majority for leaving deportees to “suffer violence in far-flung locales.”
Trump's Unconstitutional Act of War
Plus: A criminal justice case that managed to unite Alito and Gorsuch.
The 9th Circuit Says California's One-Per-Month Limit on Gun Purchases Is Unconstitutional
The appeals court concluded that the restriction impinges on the right to arms and is not consistent with the historical tradition of firearm regulation.
Abortion Rates Keep Rising After Dobbs
Strict abortion bans do not seem to be seriously stopping abortions.
The 20th Anniversary of Kelo v. City of New London
On this anniversary, I have posted two new articles related to one of the Supreme Court's most controversial decisions.
The 9th Circuit Rejects Trump's Audacious Claim That He Can Use the National Guard However He Likes
Although the appeals court said the president probably complied with the law he invoked to justify his California deployment, it emphasized that such decisions are subject to judicial review.
Why MAGA Turned on Amy Coney Barrett
Plus: The Supreme Court upholds a state ban on transgender care for minors.
SCOTUS Upholds Tennessee Law Banning Medical Transition for Transgender Kids
With the culture war blazing, not even the Supreme Court could agree on the medical facts of the case.
Trump Argues That He Can Take Over a State's National Guard Whenever He Feels Like It
The government's lawyer told a 9th Circuit panel the president's deployments are "unreviewable," so he need not even pretend to comply with the statute on which he is relying.
Supreme Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to State Limits on Sex Transition Treatments for Minors
The Court's majority avoids the larger question of whether laws targeting transgender individuals should be subject to heightened scrutiny, but Justice Barrett did not.
The Government Seized Her Home for a Project That Never Happened
Twenty years after Susette Kelo lost at the Supreme Court, the land where her house once stood is still an empty lot.
Federal Courts Shrug at Potentially Lethal Wrong-Door Raids
Cops should not be free to forgo the modicum of care required to make sure they’re in the right place.
What Have We Learned about Justice Barrett? (Updated)
Perceptions of Amy Coney Barrett may have changed more than her jurisprudence or voting record.
Don't Let Rights-Violating Federal Agents Dodge Accountability
Plus: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on wax.
Whether or Not Trump Invokes It, the Insurrection Act Is Antiquated and Dangerously Broad
On its face, the law gives the president sweeping authority to deploy the military in response to domestic disorder.
Is the Business of the Roberts Court (Still) Business?
My contribution to an interdisciplinary symposium on "Donald J. Trump, the Supreme Court, and American Constitutionalism"
Did Justice Barrett Flip in PennEast Pipeline?
An interesting tidbit from today's NYT profile of Justice Amy Coney Barrett
Supreme Court Rules, Again, That Different Standards for Discrimination Plaintiffs Are Unconstitutional
The Court ruled unanimously in favor of a disabled teenage girl and her family, who faced a higher bar to prove that her school discriminated against her.
The FBI Raided This Innocent Georgia Family's Home. The Supreme Court Just Revived Their Lawsuit.
Agents detonated a grenade and broke into the house, guns drawn. But while the decision is good news for Curtrina Martin and Toi Cliatt, their legal battle is far from over.
17 Years Ago, She Lost Her Gun Rights for Passing a Bad Check. She Wants SCOTUS To Rectify That Injustice.
Melynda Vincent is asking the justices to decide whether it's constitutional to disarm people based on nothing more than a nonviolent criminal conviction.
Why Donald Trump and Josh Hawley Are Wrong To Call for Jailing People Who Burn the American Flag
The Supreme Court ruled decades ago that burning the flag is protected by the First Amendment, no matter how offensive that act may be.
He Fell Behind on His Taxes. So the Government Seized His Home, Sold It, and Kept the $258,000 Profit.
But now his case against the government can move forward.
3 Supreme Court Cases To Watch in June 2025
Plus: The glorious return of drive-in movie season.
The Divisions Among the Court's Originalists
Professor Joel Alicea on how to understand what may be the most important jurisprudential divisions on the Supreme Court.
Denver Case Highlights the Potentially Deadly Hazards of Police Raids Based on Secondhand Information
Michael Mendenhall wants the Supreme Court to reconsider a precedent that allows home invasions based on nothing but hearsay.
Should the Seventh Amendment Civil Jury Trial Right Apply to the States?
The right to a civil jury trial is far more deeply rooted in American history and tradition than is the right to own guns, which the Supreme Court was right to incorporate.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia Back in the United States
The Trump Administration returned the illegally deported migrant from imprisonment in El Salvador after repeatedly claiming they could not do so.
Police Blew Up This Innocent Woman's House and Left Her With the Bill. A Judge Says She's Owed $60,000.
Vicki Baker's legal odyssey is finally coming to an end.
Unanimous Supreme Court Affirms That There Is No 'Good' Discrimination
The court ruled on Thursday that a heterosexual woman shouldn't have to clear a higher bar than a gay colleague to sue for discrimination.
Is the Supreme Court Really That Divided? The Facts Say No.
Unanimous rulings on discrimination, guns, and religion once again challenge the common media narrative that the Court is hopelessly polarized.
A Federal Judge Orders Relief for Alleged Gang Members Deported and Imprisoned Without Due Process
Without such intervention, he warns, the government "could snatch anyone off the street, turn him over to a foreign country, and then effectively foreclose any corrective course of action."
Overruling Trump's Tariffs Should Be an Easy Decision for SCOTUS
Plus: A love letter to the heavy metal band Slayer.
Trump's Attack on the Federalist Society Is a Bad Omen for Originalism
The MAGA loyalty that Trump demands is anathema to everything that originalism is supposed to be about.
Is Justice Barrett "Solidifying Herself as the Swing Justice"?
Claims that Justice Amy Coney Barrett is at the center for the Court are not supported by the data. The truth is more complicated.
SCOTUS Allows Trump Administration to Revoke Parole Status of Noncitizens Present under CHNV Program
A reminder that the Executive Branch retains substantial discretionary authority over immigration policy and will prevail in court when that authority is properly exercised.
Supreme Court Unanimously Agrees To Curb Environmental Red Tape That Slows Down Construction Projects
The case involved a fully permitted railroad track in Utah that has yet to break ground because of environmental lawsuits.
"The Central Principle of Judicial Review in NEPA Cases Is Deference"
Some additional thoughts on today's Supreme Court decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition.
Supreme Court Narrows Scope of NEPA Review
Environmental Impact Statements do not have to consider upstream and downstream effects.
Can Schools Ban This 'There Are Only Two Genders' Shirt? Supreme Court Declines To Hear Free Speech Case
A Massachusetts 7th grader was sent home for wearing the shirt, though the school allows students to challenge the idea it conveyed.
The Supreme Court Said States Can't Discriminate in Alcohol Sales. They're Doing It Anyway.
Two decades after Granholm v. Heald was supposed to end protectionist shipping laws, states and lower courts continue to undermine the decision.
Trump's Mass Cancellation of Student Visas Illustrates the Lawlessness of His Immigration Crackdown
A federal judge blocks the administration's "Student Criminal Alien Initiative," which targeted foreign students who had no criminal records.
Baude on Trump v. Wilcox: "Predictable and Reasonable"
A defense of the Supreme Court's decision to let President Trump remove members of the NLRB and MSPB.
The Executive Power Case That Unites Donald Trump and Franklin Roosevelt
Trump’s firing of a federal agency head may soon spell doom for a New Deal era precedent that limited presidential power.
A Split Supreme Court Says Oklahoma Can't Have a Religious Charter School
The deadlocked court doesn't provide much clarity to sticky questions about the limits of religious freedom.
A Federal Judge Says New Mexico Cops Reasonably Killed an Innocent Man at the Wrong House
U.S. District Judge Matthew Garcia rejected the argument that the officers "recklessly created the need to apply deadly force by going to the wrong address."
