The Volokh Conspiracy

Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent

Volokh Conspiracy

National Constitution Center podcast on this week's Supreme Court decisions - and the upcoming raisin takings case

|

The National Constitution Center has just posted a podcast on this week's important Supreme Court decisions. The participants were Elizabeth Wydra, chief counsel of the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center, and myself. NCC President and George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Rosen moderated, and posed questions.

http://s57.podbean.com/pb/77eab4fe6658442d78530aa3c63e1225/55836dcb/data2/blogs60/644803/uploads/2015-16-18.mp3

We discussed today's important free speech decisions in Walker v. Sons of Confederate Veterans and Reed v. Town of Gilbert, as well as Monday's significant immigration/Due Process Clause/marriage ruling in Kerry v. Din.

At the end, I briefly previewed Horne v. US Dept. of Agriculture, the raisin takings case, in which I have joined an amicus brief along with several other constitutional law and property scholars, urging the Court to rule in favor of the property owners. The Court's decision in Horne is likely to be issued next week.

UPDATE: In the podcast, I expressed concerns about the Texas license plate decision similar to those of co-blogger and leading First Amendment expert Eugene Volokh. I had not yet read Eugene's post about the case when we did the podcast. Like Eugene, I think this is a close case where both sides had some strong arguments. But - also like him - I also worry about some of the implications of the majority's reasoning for future cases.