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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

"too much law" & Judicial Bias (among other problems)

Posted on March 29, 2009
The New York Review of Books April 9 issue has an insightful review by Anthony Lewis of Phillip K. Howard's book, Shall We Get Rid of the Lawyers? Lewis begins with a recollection: Justice Hugo L. Black once told me...

Voting Rights and African-Americans: Robson's Saturday Evening Review

Posted on March 28, 2009
With Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District v. Holder (considering the application and reauthorization of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act) scheduled for oral argument before the Court the last day in the term, and most recently blogged here, legal...

Spanish Court Moves to Investigate U.S. Officials for Torture

Posted on March 28, 2009
The Spanish Audencia Nacional, the Spanish national security court, has taken the first steps toward investigating Bush administration officials for authorizing torture at Guantanamo Bay in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture...

Sanders on Will's Situational Constitutionalism

Posted on March 28, 2009
Chicago attorney Steve Sanders argued yesterday on the American Constitution Society Blog that columnist George Will exhibited his own "situational constitutionalism" in his op-ed earlier this week in the Washington Post. In that piece, Will romped through recent actions of...

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U.S. Bombing, Defamation Case Raises Political Questions

Posted on March 27, 2009
The D.C. Circuit in a split decision today affirmed the lower court's dismissal of a Sudanese pharmaceutical manufacturer's Federal Tort Claims Act case against the United States for negligence in bombing its facility in 1998 and for defamation in subsequently...

House Judiciary Leaders Support VRA Reauthorization

Posted on March 26, 2009
A bipartisan group of leaders of the House Judiciary Committee filed an amicus brief today in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District v. Holder, the case dealing with the application and reauthorization of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act--the preclearance...

Conference on 13th Amendment

Posted on March 26, 2009
Slavery, Abolition, and Human Rights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Thirteenth Amendment A Conference at the University of Chicago Law School, April 17-18, 2009 The conference is organized by Amy Dru Stanley (University of Chicago) and Alexander Tsesis (Loyola University) and...

O'Connor, Ginsburg & Feminism

Posted on March 24, 2009
More on O'Connor's feminism can be found referenced in Julie Graves Krishnaswami, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: A Selected Annotated Bibliography, 57 Cath. U. L. Rev. 1099 (2008). In her section, ?Equality and Feminism,? Krishnaswami lists and describes the following articles:...

Winkler on Heller's Contradictions

Posted on March 23, 2009
Adam Winkler (UCLA) recently posted his smart and delightfully entertaining piece Heller's Catch-22on ssrn. The article is also forthcoming in the UCLA Law Review. This is clever, insightful, and important beyond the Second Amendment--a very satisfying read...

Justice O'Connor on Women's Rights

Posted on March 23, 2009
Justice O'Connor participated in an interview with the New York Times to promote her new website for children. Though she declines to call herself a feminist, take note of what she does say: Do you call yourself a feminist? I...

White House to Release Details of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques

Posted on March 23, 2009
The White House is moving to declassify and release three internal memos that set out the Bush administration's legal justification for its enhanced interrogation techniques (including waterboarding) used against high value detainees, report Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball in Newsweek...

Uighurs File for Contempt

Posted on March 22, 2009
Huzaifa Parhat and the Chinese Muslims (the Uighurs) detained at Guantanamo Bay filed a motionFriday in the D.C. Circuit to hold Secretary of Defense Gates in contempt for failing to comply with that court's June 20, 2008, order to "release...

Detainees Push Back on Administration Detention Authority

Posted on March 21, 2009
Lawyers for a group of detainees yesterday filed a Replyto the administration's definition of detainable individuals under the Authorization for Use of Military Force and international law. Many thanks to Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog for the tip and for posting...

Bill of Attainder - Saturday Evening Review

Posted on March 21, 2009
Article I section 9 of the Constitution (not the First Amendment as some seem to believe) provides: ?No bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.? Given all the discussion of bills of attainder recently in connection...

The Teaching Assistant

Posted on March 21, 2009
Hello! As always, we will cover a number of stories. This week's installment will take us through a varied collection of stories. Equal Protection: The NAACP has filed a suit against a number of mortgage lenders alleging that they deliberated...

Using the Obama Victory as an Excuse for Ending the VRA

Posted on March 20, 2009
My co-blogger Steven recently posted about a challenge to the VRA. One particular portion of the brief has made the headlines recently. In defense of their request to nullify the provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the defendants have made...

John Yoo on same-sex marriage

Posted on March 20, 2009
John Yoo, best known as the author of the Bush Administration?s so-called ?torture memos,? see here, also has something to say about same-sex marriage. In a brief essay, Can The Government Prohibit Gay Marriage?, 50 South Texas Law Rev. 15...

Equal Protection Viewpoint on AIG Bonuses

Posted on March 20, 2009
Over at the Faculty Lounge (where I am frequently a guest, full disclosure), Con Law Prof (and Con Law casebook author) Calvin Massey has a brief post about a potential problem lurking in the AIG issue - and one tha...

ConLaw Prof named new Dean at William & Mary

Posted on March 20, 2009
According to a press release, Davison M. Douglas, a Con Law Prof at William & Mary Law School since 1990, has been named Dean. Douglas' areas of constitutional specialties include race, religions, and elections. Perhaps his best known work is...

The Changing Face of Habeas for Guatnanamo Detainees?

Posted on March 20, 2009
A group of Guantanamo detainees yesterday filed a Supplemental Memorandum arguing that the Geneva Conventions guarantee them certain conditions of confinement and that the federal courts have jurisdiction under the habeas statute to enforce them. Many thanks to Lyle Denniston...

Kagan Confirmed as SG; Johnsen Moves to Full Senate for OLC

Posted on March 20, 2009
The Senate confirmed Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan as solicitor general by a 61-31 vote yesterday. Kagan will be the nation's first female solicitor general. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted yesterday 11-7 on the nomination of Dawn Johnsen, Indiana...

AIG Bonuses & Constitutional Remedies

Posted on March 19, 2009
What are the constitutional ramifications of Congressional action seeking recoup of the bonuses paid to AIG executives? Over at TaxProf Blog, Paul Caron has a great post with supporting materials for Larry Tribe's opinion that "the proposed 90% tax on...

Wanted: Lawyer for Judicial Position. Must be learned in the law. Must look great in black. Must possess the quality of empathy.

Posted on March 19, 2009
The title of this post could be a "help wanted ad" for the Obama administration as it seeks judicial nominees. This story created a flap during the campaign, but has resurfaced with the administration's first judicial appointment and the administration's...

Slavery, Abolition, and Human Rights: A Symposium on the Thirteenth Amendment

Posted on March 19, 2009
The University of Chicago Law School and the Loyola University (Chicago) School of Law will host a symposium on April 17 and 18 at the University of Chicago Law School auditorium titled Slavery, Abolition, and Human Rights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on...

Bush v. Gore Redux in Coleman v. Franken?

Posted on March 18, 2009
The Minnesota recount litigation goes on and on - - - more than four and a half months after the election, the Senate race between Franken and Coleman is still not finalized. An insightful piece on Slate by Richard Hasen...

Edlin on Judges and Unjust Laws

Posted on March 18, 2009
Douglas E. Edlin (Dickinson Poli. Sci.) recently published Judges and Unjust Laws: Common Law Constitutionalism and the Foundations of Judicial Review with the University of Michigan Press. I look forward to reviewing and recommending it in greater detail here soon,...

The Big Change in Obama's Position on Detention Authority

Posted on March 18, 2009
The Obama administration has come under fire for its "refined" position on its authority to detain individuals in the war on terror, filed with the U.S. District Court in D.C. last week. (I posted on this, with a link to...

Conference at Drake

Posted on March 17, 2009
Drake Law School's 2009 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW CENTER SYMPOSIUM ?Global Perspectives on Religion, the State, and Constitutionalism? is on April 4, 2009. The goal of this Symposium is for an interdisciplinary group of experts on various religious traditions to describe the...

When and How to Use Signing Statements to Declare Law Unconstitutional

Posted on March 17, 2009
The NYT editorialized today that President Obama should increase transparency in and promote checks on his use of Presidential signing statements to declare portions of bills unconstitutional. The editorial comes the week after President Obama first issued cautionary guidance on...

Further Issues Regarding the Constitutionality of the Bailout

Posted on March 17, 2009
It appears that a specific provision of the new stimulus legislation is causing a constitutional stir. Con Law Professor Ronald Rotunda wrote an article for the Chicago Tribune criticizing the portion of the legislation that allows state legislators to bypass...

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