Clik here to view.
Revising History: Obamacare and Orrin Hatch
In his recent piece for Salon.com, Simon Maloy uncovers a glaring contradiction in Orrin Hatch’s newest attack on the Affordable Care Act. Speaking to The Heritage Foundation on Monday, Hatch made...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Kochs Take on Obamacare…Again
For the second week in a row, I am reading about the newest challenge to The Affordable Care Act, King v. Burwell. Oral arguments will be held in The Supreme Court today; on Monday, Katrina vanden...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Vanity Plates and Dixie: The Limits of Free Speech
Writing for Slate.com, Mark Joseph Stern recounts some interesting– and in some instances, legitimately funny– moments from Monday’s Supreme Court docket. Before the Court was a case pitting the State...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Affirmative Action: The Supreme Court’s Next Big Decision?
In the wake of some monumental Supreme Court rulings, Jamelle Bouie of Slate.com is looking to the future, and discussing one particular case that looms large on the Court’s docket. The case, Fisher v....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cruel and Unusual: The Future of the Death Penalty
Robert J. Smith of Slate.com asks an interesting question following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that allows states to keep using the drug midazolam as part of a lethal injection cocktail: could...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sex, Sex, Celibacy, Diversity
One Believe it or not, sex is a very important part of a relationship for many women, despite what we may say or what nonverbal messages we may send. From a female standpoint, I enjoy the intimacy. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Takes in a Show
Some light reading this week: Jess Bravin of the Wall Street Journal finds Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg taking in an opera. Justice Ginsburg is an apparently frequent opera-goer, but in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is Kim Davis a Pawn?
Writing for Slate.com this week, Mark Joseph Stern addressed the most recent challenge to Obergefell v. Hodges, the recent decision granting gay couples nationwide the right to marry. The challenge...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Previewing the Supreme Court’s New Term
Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern’s recent Slate.com post offers a brief preview of what’s to come this term in the nation’s highest court. For readers with a liberal bent, the news may be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Abortion Rights’ Newest Challenge
Writing for Mother Jones, Hannah Levintova discusses the newest abortion-rights-related law to find its way to the US Supreme Court: Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole. Levintova describes the premise: In...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Race and Racism in Jury Selection
Slate columnist Dahlia Lithwick published an excerpt of her interview with Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, during which they discussed race as a factor in criminal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Representation Under Attack
Writing for Slate.com, Dahlia Lithwick discusses the case of Evenwel v. Abbott, which was argued yesterday in the US Supreme Court. Lithwick sums up the competing positions: In the plainest sense,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Florida’s Death Penalty Ruled Unconstitutional
Anna M. Phillips of the Tampa Bay Times reported big news yesterday from the US Supreme Court. In an 8-1 vote, the high court held in Hurst v. Florida that the state’s death penalty statute is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Supreme Court on Juvenile Offenders and Life Sentences
On Monday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of Montgomery v. Alabama, essentially deciding that many prisoners serving life without parole who were juveniles when they committed their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Harsh Eulogy for Antonin Scalia
On Monday, The New Yorker‘s resident Supreme Court commentator Jeffrey Toobin summarized his thoughts on the late Antonin Scalia’s legacy. Toobin doesn’t pull any punches in his critique: Belligerent...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Sixth Amendment, Jane Kelly, and The National Review
Public defenders do not choose their clients (I know this firsthand; I have been one for almost ten years). Public defenders are assigned defendants who cannot afford to hire their own attorney, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Merrick Garland and the Danger of Pragmatism
Most people seem to believe that Judge Merrick Garland—President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court vacancy—will not be given a hearing by the US Senate. Senate Republicans appear staunch in their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Evenwel v. Texas, a Rare Unanimous Decision
Last December, I wrote about the arguments before the Supreme Court in the case of Evenwel v. Texas. The plaintiffs were attempting to use the “one person, one vote” principle established by a history...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Robert McDonnell, The Supreme Court, and Bribery
NBC News’ Pete Williams reported today on oral arguments in front of the Supreme Court. The arguments stem from former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell’s criminal appeal. McDonnell was convicted in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Supreme Court and the “D.C. Madam”
I have been following a rather amusing story recently: one involving an eccentric attorney and some potentially salacious information. Today, the Supreme Court weighed in, and Steven Nelson of U.S....
View Article