Constitutional Law Prof Blog: Constitutional Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Constitutional Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Constitutional Law

Constitutional Law Prof Blog

News, analysis, and commentary on constitutional law issues in the courts, the administration, Congress, and the states; and commentary and analysis on constitutional law scholarship.
By Steven D. Schwinn, Ruthann Robson, Nareissa L. Smith

Post Frequency: 3.1/day

Last Entry: November 04, 2020 at 10:04:25

Missourians Vote on Health Insurance Mandate Nullification Measure

Posted on August 02, 2010
Missourians on Tuesday will vote on a referendum aimed at nullifying the individual health insurance mandate enacted as part of the federal health care overhaul earlier this year. The ballot proposal, Proposition C, asks voters if the Missouri statutes--not its...

Kevin Johnson on Racial Profiling

Posted on August 01, 2010
The "racial profiling" aspect of Arizona SB 1070, the controversial statute partially enjoined by a federal district judge last week, has been subject to much discussion. In an article published in April (the month SB 1070 was signed into law),...

New Web-Site Tracks Federal Judicial Nominations

Posted on July 31, 2010
The American Constitution Society recently launched a new web-site, JudicialNominations.org, that tracks "vacancies, nominations, and other developments in the courts," including congressional statements, video, and actions. This is an outstanding resource for anyone interested in the federal judiciary--user-friendly, comprehensive, and...

The Individual Health Care Mandate and Enumerated Powers at SEALS

Posted on July 31, 2010
The Southeastern Association of Law Schools, or SEALS, a regional organization that also includes affiliate schools from around the country, kicked off its annual conference on Friday. The program includes a number of constitutional law panels, perhaps most notably this...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

The Inconsistent Tenth Amendment?

Posted on July 30, 2010
That was the original title of this Op-Ed, published in the Los Angeles Times today here. RR

Obama as Bush 2.0 on the National Security Constitution

Posted on July 30, 2010
The Obama administration has embraced some of the most dangerous and expansive national security positions of the Bush administration and threatens to set a new baseline for presidential authority, according to a report just released by the ACLU. The report,...

Federal Court Issues Preliminary Injunction for Parts of Arizona Immigration Statute SB 1070

Posted on July 28, 2010
Federal District Judge Susan Bolton has issued her opinion enjoining the enforcement of certain sections of Arizona SB 1070 including: Portion of Section 2 of S.B. 1070, codified as A.R.S. � 11-1051(B): requiring that an officer make a reasonable attempt...

Massachusetts State Statute to Mandate Election of President By Popular Vote

Posted on July 28, 2010
The Massachusetts legislature has passed a ?National Popular Vote? bill and sent it to the Governor. The law, a part of an ?Agreement Among The States To Elect The President By National Popular Vote,? seeks to vitiate the Electoral College...

Immigration Laws Passed by States: Information Available

Posted on July 28, 2010
A report issued today by the National Conference of State Legislatures compiles bills proposed, vetoed, and adopted by state legislatures regarding immigration-related issues. This is a great research tool for anyone doing scholarship or litigation in this area, as well...

Sanctuary Cities, Immigration, and Federal Preemption

Posted on July 27, 2010
The Obama administration is hypocritical for pursuing Arizona's law to control illegal immigration even as it ignores local governments that order employees not to ask about a person's immigration status or to report it to federal agents, critics claim...

Senate Fails to Advance DISCLOSE Act

Posted on July 27, 2010
A day after President Obama's much-publicized scolding of Republicans on campaign finance reform, Senate Democrats failed to garner 60 votes to advance Senator Schumer's revamped DISCLOSE Act. (The House passed the earlier version last month.) The bill increases disclosure requirements...

Federalist Society Focuses on Washington State Supreme Court

Posted on July 27, 2010
The Federalist Society has announced the publication of The Washington Supreme Court and the State Constitution: A 2010 Assessment. The 35 page report highlights the takings clause provision of the Washington Constitution as it relates to private property rights...

District Court Grants Another Habeas Petition

Posted on July 26, 2010
The government failed to show by a preponderance of evidence that another Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo Bay was part of al Qaeda and therefore detainable, Judge Friedman (D.D.C.) ruled in an early July opinion released on Friday. The case, Almerfedi....

Arizona HB 2013 Likely Unconstitutional: Federal Court Orders State Employee Benefits for Same-Sex Domestic Partners

Posted on July 24, 2010
With all the attention to the constitutional challenges to Arizona SB 1070 on immigration, it would be easy to miss a federal district court decision granting a preliminary injunction against another recently passed Arizona statute signed into law by Governor...

Commentary by Sherrilyn Ifill

Posted on July 23, 2010
Sherrilyn Infill, ConLawProf at the University of Maryland School of Law and author of On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-first Century, has two recent commentaries worth reading. In her just published and provocatively titled...

Another Try to Blunt Citizens United

Posted on July 23, 2010
Senator Schumer on Wednesday introduced a new version of the DISCLOSE Act, his attempt to blunt the impact of the Supreme Court's January 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC. That case held that federal restrictions on corporate and labor...

The Proposed Constitution of Kenya, Abortion, and the Obama Administration

Posted on July 22, 2010
Four GOP House members this week asked the Inspector General for the U.S. Agency for International Development to investigate whether the Obama administration misused appropriated funds to support Kenya's proposed constitution. Reps. Chris Smith, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Darrell Issa, and Frank...

What is an Enemy Combatant?

Posted on July 22, 2010
David Mortlock, attorney-adviser at the State Department, takes up this question in his recent blog post at the American Constitution Society and article in the Harvard Law & Policy Review. Mortlock notes that the courts don't have a settled definition...

Immigration Ordinance in Nebraska City of Fremont Challenged

Posted on July 22, 2010
The ?Immigration Ordinance? of Fremont, Nebraska prohibits ?the harboring of illegal aliens or hiring of unauthorized aliens.? Ordinance 5165 was passed by a ballot initiative this June (by a vote of 3906 to 2908) and is scheduled to become effective...

The Tea Party Constitution and Its Critics

Posted on July 21, 2010
The Constitutional Accountability Center this week launched a new project, Strange Brew: The Constitution According to the Tea Party, to take on Tea Party claims about the U.S. Constitution. Its first publication in the project, an issue brief titled Setting...

Court (Re)Abstains on Khadr's Habeas Petition

Posted on July 21, 2010
Judge John Bates (D.D.C.) ruled yesterday that Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr could file a second amended habeas petition, but that the court would again abstain from hearing it under Schlesinger v. Councilman (holding that "federal courts normally will not entertain...

Margaret Marshall, CJ of Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Announces Retirement

Posted on July 21, 2010
Best known as the author of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the 2003 case that declared the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage unconstitutional as a matter of state law, Margaret Marshall, 66, announced her retirement today. The press...

Arizona Immigration in Federal Court - - - but not on Television (or You Tube)

Posted on July 21, 2010
Arizona District Judge Susan Bolton, in a brief order, has denied the request of the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona to "permit camera coverage and rebroadcast of the preliminary injunction and motion to dismiss hearings" scheduled for tomorrow, July 22...

Sotomayor Biography and Memoir

Posted on July 20, 2010
Sonia Sotomayor is "honored to be working with the distinguished publishing house of Alfred A. Knopf on the publication of my memoir,? according to Knopf, which has announced the signing of a contract for the as-yet-untitled memoir. There is also...

Kagan Confirmed by Judiciary Senate Committee

Posted on July 20, 2010
The vote was 13-6, largely along party lines, with Lindsey Graham joining the majority of Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee to confirm the nomination of Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court. Committee Members are: Chair, Patrick J...

Top Secret America

Posted on July 19, 2010
The Washington Post has launched its feature "Top Secret America." The project consists of three days of investigative reporting articles, the first one today entitled "A hidden world, growing beyond control." The project also includes a searchable online database detailing...

Health Insurance Mandate: "Commerce" or "Tax"?

Posted on July 18, 2010
The Obama administration switched its position on the individual health insurance mandate and now claims that it is a "tax," according to the New York Times in a provocatively titled article Changing Stance, Administration Now Defends Insurance Mandate as a...

Zywicki at Cato: Repeal the Seventeenth Amendment

Posted on July 16, 2010
Professor Todd Zywicki (George Mason) made a case for repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment in this Cato Institute podcast, posted Thursday. The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, provides for direct election of U.S. Senators by the people (and not, as...

Lynne Stewart

Posted on July 15, 2010
Lynne Stewart, the criminal defense and activist attorney, was re-sentenced today in New York pursuant to the Second Circuit decision, US. v. Stewart, 590 F. 3d 93 (2nd Cir. 2009) disapproving her original 28 month sentence and remanding for resentencing...

Questions about Berwick's Recess Appointment

Posted on July 15, 2010
All ten Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee yesterday asked Chairman Max Baucus for a hearing on President Obama's recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the Department of Health...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...

The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...

Case Law Development: Constitutional Challenge to Paternity Laws Dismissed For Failure to State Claim
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals uphel...