This post also appears on scotusblog.com The Supreme Court moved into the new realm of violent speech on the Internet with the aim of clarifying the legal risk. It insisted Monday that it had done so, at least part of the way, but two Justices argued that instead only confusion had resulted. It is not even… Read More
Jun 1 2015
New shield against religious bias
This post also appears on scotusblog.com A job applicant whose faith dictates a personal practice that may contradict a company’s workplace rules now has a better chance of getting hired, even if the management’s rule is entirely neutral about religion, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday. If the management has even an inkling about the applicant’s religious views, it… Read More
May 26 2015
Major test on voter equality set for review
This post also appears on scotusblog.com The Constitution has been understood for the past half-century to require that no individual’s vote count more at election time than anyone else’s. The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday, for the first time, to clarify how that concept of equality is to be measured, when legislatures are drawing up election… Read More
Apr 26 2015
Same-sex marriage: The decisive questions
This post also appears on scotusblog.com Twenty-two months ago, the Supreme Court — perhaps not fully realizing that it was doing so — set off a constitutional revolution. In a decision that spoke somewhat tentatively about an “evolving understanding of the meaning of equality,” the Court in United States v. Windsor saw in that understanding… Read More
Apr 14 2015
Preview on same-sex marriage — Part II, The states’ views
This post also appears on scotusblog.com This is the second post in a four-part series on the written arguments that have been filed in the same-sex marriage cases at the Supreme Court. This post covers the briefs of the four states in defense of their state bans. America’s state governments have never seen anything like… Read More
Apr 13 2015
Preview on same-sex marriage — Part I, The couples’ views
This post also appears on scotusblog.com This is the first post in a four-part series on the written arguments that have been filed in the same-sex marriage cases at the Supreme Court. This post covers the briefs of the couples who are challenging the state bans. Later posts in this series will cover the state governments’… Read More
Mar 5 2015
Marriage case hearings April 28; audio out quickly
The Supreme Court on Thursday set the hearing date for the same-sex marriage cases for Tuesday, April 28, and announced that the audiotape recording of the session will be released by no later than 2 p.m. that day.
Mar 1 2015
Now, the third leg of the health-care stool
A version of this post appears on scotusblog.com Five years ago, when Congress finished writing nearly a thousand pages that would become the new national health-care law, it was well aware that the finished product would be subject to strong challenges. The Affordable Care Act was passed in both houses with not one Republican lawmaker voting for it. … Read More
Feb 28 2015
The Confrontation Clause, once more
A version of this post appears on scotusblog.com For the past eleven years, the Supreme Court has been defining — one case at a case — how far the Sixth Amendment goes to protect a right of the accused person on trial to confront witnesses who will give evidence to support a guilty verdict. The process… Read More
Feb 25 2015
A fisherman slips through federal prosecutors’ net
This post also appears on scotusblog.com In opinions using a boatload of fishing metaphors, a divided Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a federal criminal law against destroying corporate records cannot be used against a commercial fisherman for throwing undersized fish overboard to avoid prosecution. The ruling split the Court’s nine Justices widely on the… Read More
