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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

Senators: Wrap Up Ethics Investigation into Bush OLC Legal Advice

Posted on February 18, 2009
Senators Durbin (D-Ill.) and Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called for an update and quick end to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility investigation into whether lawyers who authored certain OLC legal memos for the Bush administration followed ethical standards...

Chief Justice Roberts on Former Appeals Court Experience for Justices

Posted on February 18, 2009
Adam Liptak reported in the NYT Tuesday that Chief Justice Roberts attributed the "more solid grounds of legal arguments" to a Court full of former federal appeals court judges in a speech at the University of Arizona College of Law....

Guantanamo Detainees in Limbo after Court Ruling

Posted on February 18, 2009
The D.C. Circuit ruled today that the lower court lacked authority to order 17 Chinese Muslims, the Uighurs, held at Guantanamo Bay into the United States. I most recently posted on the Uighurs here; the Center for Constitutional Rights collects...

UC Davis Symposium on Justice Stevens

Posted on February 17, 2009
UC Davis Law Review will host what looks like an excellent Symposium on Justice Stevens on March 6. Here's the description:As part of the 40th anniversary of the dedication of Martin Luther King, Jr., Hall, home to the University of...

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Two Quick Hits

Posted on February 17, 2009
Here are two stories you may wish to follow: 1. Findlaw has a great piece on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; and 2. In an update to a previous posting, Harry Reid is "cautiously optimistic" that a bill will pass...

Wordle: The Constitution

Posted on February 16, 2009
Wordle, http://www.wordle.net/, is a fun site which will "translate" a block of text into a graphic representation. The most frequently appearing words appear the largest. One can choose from different designs and color schemes, but the word frequency is the...

CFP: Gender and Sexual (In)Equality

Posted on February 16, 2009
CALL FOR ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTSCRN No. 9 (Gender and Legal Education)LAW AND SOCIETY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING May 28-31, 2009 Denver, ColoradoDEADLINE FOR PROPOSAL: FEBRUARY 25, 2009 Roundtable: Teaching Gender Inequality in Law Schools Conversations about gender and sexuality in core law...

Griffin on a Theory of Constitutional Change for the Bush Presidency

Posted on February 15, 2009
Professor Stephen Griffin (Tulane) in his latest and characteristically thoughtful piece The Bush Presidency and Theories of Constitutional Change, just posted on ssrn, takes on this provocative question: Can existing theories of constitutional change account for the Bush presidency?Griffin argues...

District Court Losing Patience with Administration on Definition of "Enemy Combatant"

Posted on February 14, 2009
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia twice this week signaled its frustration with the Obama administration's refusal to refine its position on the definition of "enemy combatant" in detainee cases before the court. The administration filed a...

Gender Equality Classic: Saturday Evening Review

Posted on February 14, 2009
The vigorous Valentine's Day media (and commercial) attention to relationships prompted me to reread Christine Littleton's classic article, Reconstructing Sexual Equality, 75 California Law Review 1279-1337 (1987). More than twenty years ago, Littleton, a Professor of Law at UCLA, Littleton...

Standing - When Can a Citizen challenge political figures?

Posted on February 13, 2009
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal ran two pieces - here and here - about the difficulty of citizens challenging Hillary Clinton's salary through the Emoulients Clause or Barack Obama's eligibility through the Natural Born Citizen Clause. The argument can be summarized...

Senate, House to Weigh-In on State Secrets

Posted on February 13, 2009
In the wake of the Obama administration's assertion of state secrets in Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., the Ninth Circuit case on extraordinary rendition (more here, and see Glenn Greenwald's excellent analysis at Salon.com), legislation has been re-introduced in the...

NAACP Centennial

Posted on February 13, 2009
As you may have heard, yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NAACP. The NAACP has a far reaching legacy in Constitutional Law. Of course, the most obvious example is the litigation leading to Brown v. Board...

The Teaching Assistant

Posted on February 13, 2009
It's time for the Teaching Assistant. Here are a few stories that you might be interested in this week. The Washington Post reports that the Obama Administration will expand the scope and duties of the National Security Council. According to...

CFP: Creative Writing on Obama

Posted on February 12, 2009
Feeling the creative urge? Or the need to write something that is not footnoted? Or thinking of a creative assignment for students? The literary magazine New Millennium is having a writing competition for works centered on Obama - - -...

Four Reforms for Supreme Court

Posted on February 12, 2009
Thirty-three law professors, former state supreme court justices, and practitioners proposed four significant changes to Supreme Court operations, Law.com reports. (Thanks to reader Darren Elliott for the tip.) The group sent the proposals to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees...

Obama Administration Maintains Bush Position on State Secrets

Posted on February 11, 2009
The Obama administration maintained course on the Bush administration claims of state secrets in Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., a closely watched case at the Ninth Circuit. The NYT reports here. The case involves an Ethiopian's claims against a Boeing...

Court Denies Injunction for Guantanamo Detainees, Restrict Habeas (again)

Posted on February 11, 2009
Judge Gladys Kessler (D.D.C.) yesterday denied Guantanamo detainees' motion for a preliminary injunction to halt the government's techniques in force-feeding them during their hunger strike. The detainees claimed that the government's use of a restraint chair and a nasal feeding...

Poverty, Class & Economic Justice

Posted on February 10, 2009
Obama spoke today in Ft Myers, Florida today about the economic crisis, emphasizing jobs, housing and health. The HHS has just released the 2009 Federal Poverty guidelines. With the economic crisis looming and debates about a Presidential/Congressional "fix," I've been...

States Complain about Federal Sex Offender Registration Act

Posted on February 10, 2009
The NYT reported yesterday on states' complaints about requirements under the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act and on sex offenders' claims that the registration requirements violate constitutional rights. The NYT:But officials in many states complain about the...

Truth and Reconcilation

Posted on February 09, 2009
Earlier today, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), stated that he would like to form a "Truth and Reconcilation" commission to investigate the abuses of power that occurred in the Justice Department and the White House in the previous administration. This evening,...

Katz on the Roberts Court and Election Law

Posted on February 09, 2009
Professor Ellen Katz (Michigan) recently posted her excellent article Withdrawal: The Roberts Court and the Retreat from Election Law on ssrn. The piece is also forthcoming in the Minnesota Law Review. This symposium article--part of the Minn. L. Rev...

Conference: Separation of Powers sponsored by Federalist Society

Posted on February 08, 2009
Yale Law School is hosting the 2009 Federalist Society National Student Symposium, ?Separation of Powers,? on February 27th and 28th, 2009; registration information here. Here's the program: Is the Separation of Powers Principle Exportable? (Friday, February 27, 6:45 p...

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Lesbians & Other Women): Saturday Evening Review

Posted on February 07, 2009
While we wait for Obama's promised action regarding the Military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, previously blogged here, it seems a good time to take yet another look at the legal scholarship on the issue. There is quite a bit,...

It's baaaaack . . . . The Teaching Assistant!

Posted on February 06, 2009
After a brief break, the Teaching Assistant is back! This week, we feature stories from a variety of Con Law fields. Executive Branch/Foreign Policy New CIA chief Leon Pannetta states that "harsh renditions" of terror suspects remains a possibility. He...

Art and Justice?

Posted on February 05, 2009
As the United States Congress contemplates whether arts funding is suitable for economic stimulus legislation, see stories here and here, Justice Albie Sachs of the South African Constitutional Court is in the United States with a beautiful book project of...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Posted on February 05, 2009
As readers will no doubt have heard by now, today Justice Ginsberg had surgery for a recently discovered pancreatic cancer. We wish her the best and a speedy recovery. NLS

Equal Protection in Faith-Based Executive Order

Posted on February 05, 2009
Today, Obama signed Amendments to Executive Order 13199 and Establishment of the President's Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The Washington Post has a video of the announcement and some of the appointments to the new Council here...

Justice Scalia scolds (undergraduate) student

Posted on February 04, 2009
The Orlando Sun-Sentinel reports that Justice Scalia, appearing in Palm Beach County, Florida, was less than overjoyed at being challenged:Student Sarah Jeck stood in front of 750 people and asked Scalia why cameras are not allowed in the U.S. Supreme...

Holder on Inherent Presidential Authority

Posted on February 04, 2009
AG Eric Holder in his Senate confirmation materials endorsed a slightly more modest form of inherent presidential authority--and somewhat greater transparency when asserting that authority--than we've seen from the Bush administration. Holder also distinguished Bush administration practices from similar Clinton...

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