Law Commons^™

Windsor Beyond Marriage: Due Process, Equality & Undocumented Immigration, Anthony O'Rourke

Anthony O'Rourke

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Windsor, invalidating part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, presents a significant interpretive challenge. Early commentators have criticized the majority opinion’s lack of analytical rigor, and expressed doubt that Windsor can serve as a meaningful precedent with respect to constitutional questions outside the area of same-sex marriage. This short Article offers a more rehabilitative reading of Windsor, and shows how the decision can be used to analyze a significant constitutional question concerning the use of state criminal procedure to regulate immigration.

From Windsor’s holding, the Article distills …

Until Life Support Do Us Part: A Spouse's Limited Ability To Terminate Life Support For An Incompetent Spouse With No Hope Of Recovery, Marybeth Herald

Marybeth Herald

This paper deals with a MCS patient in California - a case that highlights our uncertain steps into state regulation of the end of life. After a 1993 automobile accident, 42-year-old Robert Wendland fell into the classification of a MCS with no hope of recovery. He had made no advance directives as to his health care. His wife of 20 years sought to withhold artificial feeding and hydration after three surgeries to replace Robert's feeding tube. The 20-member ethics committee at the hospital, Robert and Rose's three children (two were of college age), and Robert's brother, all supported her decision. …