US Supreme Court removes immigration cases from calendar, takes up gas pipeline case
The US Supreme Court released an order on Wednesday granting the Biden administration’s request to remove oral arguments for challenges on now-defunct Trump administration immigration policies. The Supreme Court’s order separately granted a writ of certiorari in a natural-gas pipeline case. The removed cases, Mayorkas v. Innovation Law Lab and Biden v. Sierra Club, are [...]
Since the attacks on the Capitol on January 6th, calls both for and against expanded domestic terrorism authorities have proliferated. Proponents argue that we have allowed bias and blindness to open us to a steadily expanding domestic terror threat and that we need the capabilities provided in the international context. Opponents have pointed out that [...]
The Kansas Board of Regents recently voted to endorse a policy making it easier to terminate tenured faculty members. Under existing policy, a Kansas state university first must recognize a “financial exigency.” If implemented, under the new policy a university could reduce tenured faculty positions without that declaration. This would make termination of a tenured [...]
It’s Exhausting Being White: The Sick Rush to “Healing” from the Capitol Insurrection
Photo Caption: In the early 60’s Ben and Dorothy Davis integrated the all-white Brookside Elementary School in Montclair, New Jersey I watched the debates in the House with respect to impeachment. I was struck by all the citations to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural by all sides in the debates, with his emphasis on healing of the [...]
I. Introduction Much of U.S. governance is held together by goodwill, unwritten norms, and the ideals that “that would never happen” and “no one would ever do that.” Every hope of continued reliance on these norms was “shattered” on January 6, 2021, when armed insurrectionists invaded the U.S. Capitol. Under the direction of the President, [...]
The Future of The Wire Act and Online Gambling under the Biden Administration
The year 2021 could mark significant changes, among other things, to an oft argued about and imminently perplexing, sixty-year-old law–The Federal Wire Act (“Wire Act”). The change will likely be driven from the hands of President-elect Joe Biden, and more specifically, with who he selects as Attorney General of the United States. Though Biden largely [...]
US states sue over rule that could encourage predatory lending
Several states filed suit Tuesday against the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), seeking to void the “True Lender Rule” that would deprive states of the ability to enforce state laws against exploitative interest rates. In the complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the [...]
Federal appeals court blocks Cuomo's limits on religious gatherings in New York
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Monday that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions on the number of attendees at religious gatherings were likely to be a violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The Court enjoined the state from enforcing these limits, put in place to address [...]
Texas-led coalition of nine states challenges legality of DACA
A Texas-led coalition of nine states urged Tuesday a federal judge to invalidate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), arguing that DACA was unlawfully created by former President Barack Obama. The DACA program has enabled thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to work, pursue higher education, live without risk of [...]
New Jersey Attorney General announces new police use of force rules
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced Monday updates to the state’s Excellence in Policing initiative, a set of the guidelines which govern the use of force for New Jersey’s nearly 40,000 police officers at the state, county, and local levels. The updated policy is comprised of seven core principles, the first being “the sanctity of [...]
