In what proved to be a constitutionally fraught week, the Governor of the State of Texas, Greg Abbott, stated on January 26 he will oppose any measure to infringe on Texas’s placing of razor wire on the US-Mexico border, a move that has bolstered Texas nationalists and increased calls that Texas should secede from the [...]
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US federal judge rules that Oregon gun control law is constitutional
US District Court Judge for the District of Oregon Karin Immergut ruled on Friday that Oregon Ballot Measure 114 (BM 114), which restricts large-capacity magazines (LCMs) and requires permits before purchasing a firearm, is constitutional. Judge Immergut ruled that the Second Amendment does not protect LCMs, which BM 114 defines as magazines capable of firing [...]
The US Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a case asking whether banning firearms from people subject to domestic-violence restraining orders violates the Second Amendment. The case is an appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.The lawsuit specifically asks whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) violates the Second Amendment. According to [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Tuesday filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking a reversal of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Rahimi, in which the court ruled that a law prohibiting access to firearms to persons under domestic violence restraining orders was unconstitutional. The Fifth [...]
The Supreme Court’s Radical Second Amendment Jurisprudence is Sowing Chaos in the Lower Courts
In New York State Pistol & Rifle Ass’n v. Bruen, decided last June, the Supreme Court issued one of the most unusual and dangerous opinions in American history. Clarence Thomas’ majority opinion instructed lower court judges to rely exclusively on history and tradition to resolve Second Amendment cases and to completely ignore the government’s asserted [...]
For nearly a century, many progressives have seen the Constitution, and especially the Supreme Court, as allies in the effort to make our political and economic life more democratic. For a long time, this trust seemed warranted. The initially reactionary New Deal Court came to embrace the power of the national government to limit corporate [...]
In the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning a half-century of abortion jurisprudence, Justice Samuel Alito repeatedly argued that this difficult issue should be decided by the people through their elected representatives. Such calls for democracy to work, however, should be looked at with great skepticism by the American people, given how often and how [...]
Ketanji Brown Jackson faces final day of questioning at confirmation hearing
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced her final day of questioning at her confirmation hearing Wednesday. Thursday will conclude the confirmation hearings with testimony from the American Bar Association and witnesses. The Senate Judiciary Committee will then vote on whether Jackson’s nomination will go to the full Senate for consideration. Jackson continued to answer questions Wednesday [...]
The Supreme Court will overturn the law recognizing a woman’s fundamental right to choose an abortion. The only question is whether it will go even further and jeopardize women’s equality, reproductive rights, and family privacy rights for all. Pending in the Court is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the question of the constitutionality [...]
The Fake Filibuster: A Clear and Present Danger to Democracy
Judging by much of the debate over the Senate filibuster rule, you’d think it was some honorable tradition worth keeping — “an elegant weapon of a more civilized age,” as Obi-Wan Kenobi described the lightsaber to Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars. Not so. The filibuster is a dangerous relic with a deeply destructive [...]
