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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

Constitutional Law Exam Hypothetical

Posted on December 05, 2009
Looking for a Constitutional Law hypothetical, either to adapt for your students or, if you are a student, to practice or to discuss with your study group colleagues? Here's a problem focusing on "fundamental rights" and new doctrinal and theoretical...

"State Sovereignty" and the Health Insurance Mandate

Posted on December 04, 2009
NPR's Morning Edition this morning reported on state movements to sidestep any health insurance mandate that might come out of the health care overhaul now before Congress. (We previously reported on these here.) These are state constitutional and state statutory...

New York Court applies Takings Clause against Columbia University's Plans to Expand

Posted on December 03, 2009
An appellate division court in New York issued its opinion today in Matter of Kaur v New York State Urban Dev. Corp., involving the controversial bid of Columbia University to expand further into the Manhattanville section of Harlem by acquiring...

Takings Clause: Analysis of Beach Renourishment Oral Arguments Today

Posted on December 02, 2009
The Court heard oral arguments today in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection, in which the certified questions include whether a Florida decision on littoral rights constituted a "judicial taking" in violation of the Fifth...

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Senate Judiciary Committee Hears Testimony on Iqbal, Twombly

Posted on December 02, 2009
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony today from three witnesses on the impact of Ashcroft v. Iqbal and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, the two Supreme Court cases that heightened the federal pleading standard and resulted in a rash of...

DOMA, Obama and the Power of the Judiciary

Posted on December 01, 2009
Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski (pictured left) and Chief of the Office of Personnel Management, John Berry (pictured right below) seem to be at loggerheads. As Kozinski explains in his recent Order, Karen Golinski had been "denied a benefit....

"Independent" Officer Subject to At-Will Removal, OLC Opines

Posted on December 01, 2009
The Office of Legal Counsel late last month opined that the President may remove the Federal Coordinator for the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects at will, even though the Office of the Federal Coordinator is by statute "an independent office...

Fed Chair Bernanke Reacts to Efforts to Curtail Independence

Posted on November 30, 2009
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke wrote in yesterday's Washington Post that Senate proposals and a recent vote in the House Financial Services Committee threaten to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke: To support economic growth, the Fed has...

VMI Update: Gender and the Virginia Military Institute

Posted on November 27, 2009
Of the 1,500 cadets on the campus of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) this fall, only 126 are women - - - a dozen years after the United States Supreme Court, in its landmark opinion United States v. Virginia, ordered...

Holiday Travel?: Time to Catch Up on Some Constitutional "Listening"

Posted on November 24, 2009
When was the last time you listened to a reading of The United States Constitution? If you can't recall, and you are one of the 38.4 million people traveling by car in the US over the Thanksgiving holiday, perhaps your...

Movement Grows to Undo Iqbal, (Re)Open Access to Federal Courts

Posted on November 24, 2009
With the introduction last week of a bill in the House to overturn Ashcroft v. Iqbal and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, the movement among plaintiffs' and open-courts advocates to re-set the pleading standard in federal courts is gaining momentum....

Panel Debates Constitutional Right to Health Care in Prisons

Posted on November 23, 2009
The American Constitution Society (Chicago Lawyer Chapter and John Marshall Law School Student Chapter) and the ACLU hosted a panel discussion on health care in prisons last week titled Health Care Behind Bars: Are Inmates' Health Care Needs Being Met?...

Former Detainees' Habeas Claims Moot

Posted on November 23, 2009
Former Guantanamo detainees cannot maintain their habeas claims against the U.S. government, Judge Richard Leon (D.D.C.) ruled in a set of opinions released today (all duplicates of the linked opinion). Judge Leon ruled the claims moot. Former detainees, all apparently...

Epstein on Easterbrook's Incorporation Case

Posted on November 23, 2009
Richard Epstein (Chicago, Hoover Institution, and NYU) recently posted on SSRN a critique of Judge Easterbrook's decision in NRA v. City of Chicago, the Seventh Circuit case rejecting Second Amendment incorporation. (The case is now at the Supreme Court, captioned...

Abortion and Health Care as Rights: Saturday Evening Review

Posted on November 21, 2009
The volatile link between abortion and heath care reform is being hotly debated. The Stupak Amendment to the proposed Affordable Health Care for America Act, which passed in the House of Representatives, provides that "no funds authorized or appropriated by...

Is the "Pay Czar" Constitutional?

Posted on November 20, 2009
That's the question that Michael McConnell (Stanford, and formerly on the 10th Circuit) and Martin Flaherty (Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton) are debating on the Federalist Society On-Line Debate Series. McConnell wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last month...

Seventh Circuit Rules on Gun Case

Posted on November 19, 2009
The Seventh Circuit, which spawned McDonald v. City of Chicago, the Second Amendment incorporation case now before the Supreme Court, ruled yesterday that the federal government failed to sufficiently justify its ban on firearms for domestic violence convicts under the...

Same-sex marriage updates: New York and Texas

Posted on November 19, 2009
New York's highest court today (download here) affirmed the rejection of a taxpayer challenger to directives by executive and county officials that recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages for purposes of public employee health insurance coverage and other benefits...

Sheldon Whitehouse Lecture in NYC

Posted on November 19, 2009
"Living Up To Our Constitution" is the title of a lecture to be given by United States Senator (D-RI) on Friday, November 20 at 5:30 pm, sponsored by the Brennan Center at NYU. As a member of the Senate Judiciary...

Dred Scott & Harriet Scott Plaque next to Taney Statute

Posted on November 18, 2009
Justice Roger Taney, a Supreme Court Justice, lived in Frederick, Maryland and practiced law there. Thus, it is not surprising that the town of Frederick would have a monument to Taney. It is also not surprising that not everyone would...

Latina: the Magazine and the Justice

Posted on November 17, 2009
On newstands today is the new issue of Latina, the magazine, with a cover portrait of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Portions of the accompanying article, written by Sandra Guzman, a former Editor-in-Chief of Latina, are available on the magazine's website here...

Googling Constitutional Law

Posted on November 17, 2009
Google's newest enhancement has the potential to change the way we research constitutional law. Here's an announcement from the "Official Google Blog" Starting today, we're enabling people everywhere to find and read full text legal opinions from U.S...

In case you missed it . . . Summer Edition Part 1

Posted on July 09, 2009
Hello dear profs! This has been quite a busy summer. Here a a few stories you might have missed while teaching, vacationing, or working on your scholarship. I present these in no particular order: 1. Pre-emption - Recently, the Third...

New York state's constitution and the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor

Posted on July 08, 2009
New York?s Governor David Paterson - - - who was once the Lieutenant-Governor under New York?s Governor Eliot Spitzer before Spitzer?s scandal-induced resignation in March 2008- - - appointed Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant-Governor today. Paterson?s timing is prompted by the...

Want to Attend the Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings?

Posted on July 06, 2009
The Senate Judiciary Committee has posted guidelines for members of the media and the public who would like to attend the Confirmation Hearings. Guidelines For Public Attendance At The Nomination Hearing Of Sonia Sotomayor To Be An Associate Justice Of...

Dehli High Court Invalidates India's Sodomy Law: Analysis

Posted on July 02, 2009
Section 377 of the India Penal Code criminalizing sodomy has been declared unconstitutional by the Dehli High Court. In a lengthy 105 page opinion, available as download here, authored by Chief Justice Muralidhar, the Court reasoned that the "underlying theme...

Ohio Supreme Court Abortion ruling

Posted on July 02, 2009
Yesterday, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in an interesting case - Roe v. Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio. The facts of this most intriguing case are these: Thirteen year-old Jane Roe and her 21-year old soccer ccoach John Haller began...

Franken is Minnesota's US Senator: The Minnesota Supreme Court distinguishes Bush v. Gore

Posted on June 30, 2009
The Minnesota Supreme Court has issued its decision regarding the Franken-Coleman election (from November 2008). With Coleman's concession, this ends the saga; Al Franken will be seated, giving the Democratic party a 60 person "super" majority. The 32 page per...

Ricci Firefighters Race Discrimination Case: Preliminary Analysis

Posted on June 29, 2009
In a 5-4 decision, with the Court's opinion authored by Kennedy, the majority concludes that the city of New Haven violated Title VII, reversing the Second Circuit. Weighing in at 93 pages, the opinion is available as pdf here. Here...

Kennedy remained the "swing" vote in the 2008-2009 Term

Posted on June 29, 2009
Kennedy's reputation as the "swing vote" on the United States Supreme Court is substantiated by his performance during the Term that concluded today. According to the wonderfully informative "Super Stat Pack" by ScotusBlog, available here, Kennedy was in the majority...

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