Law Commons^™

How Supreme A Court?, Thomas E. Kadri

Popular Media

Facebook is planning an independent appeals process for content moderation decisions. But how much power will it have?

How To Make Facebook's 'Supreme Court' Work, Kate Klonick, Thomas E. Kadri

Popular Media

The idea of a body that will decide what kind of content is allowed on the site is promising — but only if it’s done right.

Amazing Facts About The Jfk Assassination, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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During the past half century, resourceful scholars, journalists and private researchers within the JFK assassination research community, to their enormous credit, repeatedly have uncovered relevant evidence unavailable or overlooked during the official investigations. The members of this research community are the persons who have been the most active in examining the millions of pages of previously secret government documents relating to the assassination that have been declassified and released to the public since 1992.

While many key factual questions about the JFK assassination remain answered, we now, in 2018, know more of the facts surrounding the assassination than ever before. …

“Protecting Children”: A Welcome Addition To Efforts To Redress Wartime Harms, Diane Marie Amann

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This essay is the second in an online mini forum that Just Security is hosting on the new book, Protecting Children in Armed Conflict.

$314m And Sovereign Immunity Are At Stake In Upcoming High Court Case, Peter B. Rutledge, Amanda W. Newton

Popular Media

The Nov. 7 Supreme Court arguments in Republic of Sudan v. Harrison will implicate issues of civil procedure, sovereign immunity, and statutory interpretation. At stake for the Republic of Sudan is $314 million in Sudanese assets. More broadly, however, the court’s decision could have ramifications for any nation, including the United States, that enjoys sovereign immunity.

Elizabeth Warren’S New Housing Proposal Is Actually A Brilliant Plan To Close The Racial Wealth Gap, Mehrsa Baradaran, Darrick Hamilton

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Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a $450 billion housing plan called the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act. The proposal is a comprehensive and bold step toward providing affordable housing for the most vulnerable Americans. The bill is the first since the Fair Housing Act with the explicit intent of redressing the iterative effects of our nation’s sordid history of housing discrimination. Critically, it has the potential to make a substantive dent in closing our enormous and persistent racial wealth gap.

Interruptions At Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Have Been Rising Since The 1980s, Paul M. Collins Jr., Lori A. Ringhand

Popular Media

As scholars of the confirmation process, we aim to measure what is measurable, in the hope that data can inform our more subjective perceptions of politics. And one measurable feature of Kavanaugh’s testimony is the striking number of times he interrupted the senators to challenge their comments or force his own point. Here, the historical record can shed some light. This article reviews the history of interruptions during Supreme Court confirmation hearings from 1939 to 2010.

Alien Tort Cases Will Survive Supreme Court Trim, Write Commentators, Peter B. Rutledge, Michael Baker

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For over four decades, the Alien Tort Statute has served as a central battleground in some of the country’s (and world’s) most significant international human rights litigation. Following a trend in its ATS jurisprudence that started with its opinion in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, the Supreme Court recently trimmed the statute’s scope yet further. In Jesner v. Arab Bank PLC, the Court held that suits arising under the ATS did not extend to claims against corporations (at least some of them, a nuance explained below). Once again, postdecisional commentary decried the demise of ATS suits and a blow, more generally, to …

Judge Kavanaugh, Chevron Deference, And The Supreme Court, Kent H. Barnett, Christina L. Boyd, Christopher J. Walker

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How might a new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh review federal agency statutory interpretations that come before him on the Court?

To find at least a preliminary answer, we can look to his judicial behavior while serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit—and there is plenty of relevant Kavanaugh judicial behavior to observe. Since starting his service on the D.C. Circuit in 2006, Judge Kavanaugh has participated in the disposition of around 2,700 cases and has authored more than 300 opinions. Over a third of those authored opinions involved administrative law.

The ‘Ginsburg Rule’ Is Not An Excuse To Avoid Answering The Senate’S Questions, Lori A. Ringhand, Paul M. Collins Jr.

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An op-ed by Lori Ringhand and Paul M. Collins Jr. on Supreme Court nominees' unwillingness to provide answers on cases under the wrongly named "Ginsburg Rule." Nominees since the 1930s have balanced the competing needs of the Senate and the Judiciary by claiming a privilege to not opine on currently contested cases while freely offering their opinion about cases that used to be controversial but are no longer.

Neil Gorsuch And The Return Of Rule-Of-Law Due Process, Nathan Chapman

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Something curious happened at the Supreme Court last week. While the country was glued to the Cirque du Trump, the rule of law made a comeback, revived by Neil Gorsuch, whose place on the Court may prove to be one of Trump’s most important legacies.

Unlike the partisan gerrymander and First Amendment cases currently pending before the Court, immigration cases are usually long on textual analysis and short on grand themes. Accordingly, court-watchers didn’t have especially high expectations for Sessions v. Dimaya.

Commentary: Why We Need To Stop Fining Big Banks Like Wells Fargo, Mehrsa Baradaran

Popular Media

When big banks behave badly, they know that the worst thing they’ll get is a fine; no one is going to end up in jail. Instead, shareholders end up paying the cost, not the bank employees responsible. Shareholders are a diffuse group of investors, many of whom hold shares as a part of a diverse portfolio. They are not the ones who commit such fraud, nor do they have much power to change the bank’s day-to-day operations.

Clearly fines don’t work to prevent misconduct. We should instead rely on the constitutional method of dealing with wrongdoing: the criminal justice system.

To Understand Us V. Microsoft, Consider 'Acme V. Shamrock', Peter B. Rutledge, Amanda W. Newton

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The February 27, 2018, Supreme Court argument in United States v. Microsoft Corp. raises profound questions about issues of executive power, corporate governance, technology, judicial power and international affairs. At stake for the government is the scope of its investigative authority to obtain information located in a foreign country, irrespective of that country’s laws. At stake for Microsoft is its ability to organize its international corporate affairs and the predictability of the laws that will govern those affairs. This article analyzes the potential effects of this critical Supreme Court case.

The Persistence Of Fatal Police Taserings In 2017, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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Fatal police taserings are a persistent phenomenon in the United States. Every year dozens of Americans are fatally tasered by our police.This article looks at the number of deaths cause by police tasering during 2017.

Speech V. Speakers, Thomas E. Kadri

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Twitter's new rules about extremist speech blur the lines between people and words.

Increasing Vaccination Rates Without Eliminating Nonmedical Exemptions, Hillel Y. Levin, Timothy D. Lytton

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This essay on shifting states' incentives to reduce nonmedical exemptions while respecting the choice not to vaccinate, is based on a forthcoming article, A Model Law for Nonmedical Immunization Exemptions Using the Least Restrictive Means, coauthored by Daniel A. Salmon, Stacie Kershner, Timothy D. Lytton, Hillel Y. Levin, Claire Hannan, and Saad B. Omer.