JURIST - Commentary

Student Commentary

Secrecy in Lethal Injection: How the Oklahoma Courts are Supporting a Deadly Double Standard

June 1, 2014 03:00:00 pm

JURIST Guest Columnist Kimberly Newberry, Harvard Law School Class of 2014, clarifies the current policy surrounding lethal injection law in Oklahoma and explores the repercussions of such a policy...On April 29, 2014, the State of Oklahoma forced Clayton Lockett to...

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Commentary

The Russian Constitutional Path To The Annexation Of Crimea

Jason Samuel

May 25, 2014 09:03:00 am

JURIST Guest Columnist Jason Samuel, Penn State Dickinson School of Law Class of 2014, explores the constitutional framework surrounding the annexation of Crimea by Russia...When the Alma-Ata Declaration was signed on December 21, 1991, 10 nations separated from the former...

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Commentary

An Examination of Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe's Rationale for Vetoing SB 236

Michael Blissenbach

May 19, 2014 12:30:00 pm

JURIST Guest Columnist Michael Blissenbach, University of St. Thomas School of Law Class of 2015, discusses Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe's Veto of SB 236, which would have codified the rights of students to pray voluntarily in school and at...

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Commentary

Governor Terry McAuliffe's Right to Veto Virginia's School Prayer Law

Aaron Spencer

May 1, 2014 07:00:00 pm

JURIST Guest Columnist Aaron Spencer, Temple University Beasley School of Law Class of 2015, discusses Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe's Veto of SB 236, which would have codified the rights of students to pray voluntarily in school and at school events...

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Commentary

Georgia's Concealed Carry Expansion: A Victory for Individual Rights

Thomas Warns

April 30, 2014 03:00:00 pm

JURIST Guest Columnist Thomas Warns, New York University School of Law, Class of 2015, discusses Georgia's Safe Carry Protection Act and the balance it strikes between rights to private property and self-defense...Georgia Governor Nathan Deal recently signed into law a...

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Commentary

Healthy PA: Pennsylvania's Attempt to Reform Medicaid Contravenes the Goals of the ACA's Medicaid Expansion

Leigh Argentieri Coogan

April 19, 2014 09:02:00 am

JURIST Senior Editor Leigh Argentieri Coogan, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Class of 2014, discusses the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Governor Corbett's implementation of Healthy PA ...After the US Supreme Court ruled the Patient Protection and...

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Commentary

Saving Private Ryan's Valor: The Stolen Valor Act and Lies About Military Medals

David Hommel

April 16, 2014 08:00:00 pm

JURIST Guest Columnist David Hommel, St. John's University School of Law, Class of 2014, is the author of the ninth article in a ten-part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development. Hommel discusses false...

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President Carter authorizes Chrysler bailout

On January 7, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 (Public Law 96-185) into law. The act granted to Chrysler $1.5 billion to save the company from bankruptcy. Twenty-eight years later in 2008, President George W. Bush authorized $17.4 billion to again bailout Chrysler in addition to the other two major American automobile manufacturers, Ford and General Motors.

Anglo-Irish Treaty ratified

On January 7, 1922, Dáil Éireann ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Signed on December 6 of the preceding year, the treaty ended the Irish War of Independence against Great Britain. The British Parliament voted to approve the treaty on December 16, 1921. Ratification was completed on January 14, 1922, when the House of Commons of Southern Ireland became the third and final party to approve the document. The Anglo-Irish treaty effectively split the island into its current state. While the lower counties of Ireland were granted autonomy under the treaty, Britain insisted that the six Protestant counties of Northern Ireland be allowed to determine their own future. On the day after the treaty was signed, these counties elected to remain part of Great Britain. Today, they remain part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

New York State Assembly expels five socialist assemblymen

The New York State Assembly, the state's lower house, expelled five duly elected assemblymen from the Socialist Party over their political affiliation on January 7, 1920. The US was in the midst of the first Red Scare, a panic resulting from the ascendancy of the Bolsheviks in Russia, which resulted in the repression of socialists across the country. The result of the expulsion vote was 140-6. Thus, Assemblymen August Claessens, Samuel A. DeWitt, Samuel Orr, Charles Solomon and Louis Waldman were removed from their posts. Learn more about the expulsions from the Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York.

Rehnquist sworn in as US Supreme Court Justice

On January 7, 1972, the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist was sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Read a short profile of Chief Justice Rehnquist here.