Law Commons^™

Update On Patent-Related Cases In Computers And Electronics, Karishma Jiva Cartwright, Timothy T. Hsieh, Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Articles

This paper provides an overview of patent cases relating to computer and electronics technology that were not taken up by the Supreme Court during the October 2022 term. As of this writing, the Supreme Court has not granted certiorari in any patent-related cases for its October 2021 Term. The Court has, however, called for the views of the Solictor General in four cases, indicating higher interest and raising the possibility that one or more of these cases may appear on the Court's merits docket for the October 2022 Term. Additionally, though the Court denied certiorari in Baxter v. Becton, Dickinson, …

No Sense Of Decency, Kathryn E. Miller

Articles

For nearly seventy years, the Court has assessed Eighth Amendment claims by evaluating “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” In this Article, I examine the evolving standards of decency test, which has long been a punching bag for critics on both the right and the left. Criticism of the doctrine has been fierce, but largely academic until recent years. Some fault the test for being too majoritarian, while others argue that it provides few constraints on the Justices’ discretion, permitting their personal predilections to rule the day. For many, the test is seen …

A New Supreme Court Case Threatens Another Body Blow To Our Democracy, Katherine A. Shaw, Leah Litman, Carolyn Shapiro

Online Publications

When the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, the justices in the majority insisted they were merely returning the issue of abortion to the democratic process. But a case the court has announced it will hear in its October term could make that democratic process a lot less democratic.

The Link Between Voting Rights And The Abortion Ruling, Katherine A. Shaw, Leah Litman, Melissa Murray

Online Publications

The Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization gives states the maximum amount of freedom to restrict abortion. The decision is so sweeping that, under its logic, states could ban abortion even in cases of rape or incest; they may even be able — as the dissent notes — to prohibit abortions in circumstances in which a doctor believes the procedure is necessary to preserve the life or health of the pregnant person.

We Clerked For Justices Scalia And Stevens. America Is Getting Heller Wrong., Katherine A. Shaw, John Bash

Online Publications

In the summer of 2008, the Supreme Court decided District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the court held for the first time that the Second Amendment protected an individual right to gun ownership. We were law clerks to Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion, and Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the lead dissent.

Ask The Author: Interview With Justice John Paul Stevens, Katherine A. Shaw

Online Publications

Justice John Paul Stevens sat down for a wide-ranging telephone interview with Kate Shaw. The occasion was the recent publication of his memoir, “The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years” (Little, Brown and Company, 2019). A lightly edited transcript of the conversation follows.

Why Kavanaugh Should Not Attend The White House Ceremony, Michael Herz

Online Publications

Brett Kavanaugh is now Justice Kavanaugh. He has been nominated, confirmed and — in a private ceremony on Saturday conducted by Chief Justice John Roberts and the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy — sworn in. There is nothing left to do. So why is he scheduled to be at the White House on Monday evening for a public ceremony, one that President Trump has inaccurately called a “swearing-in ceremony”?

2018 Cardozo Life (Fall), Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Life

Table of Contents:

Top News & Events, page 3

Clinics News, page 11

Faculty Briefs, page 13

Faculty With Impact, page 16

A Courtside Seat: Six Former Clerks Share Their Supreme Court Takeaways, page 30

Bridging the Gap, page 35

Notable Case Brings Three Clinics to One Man's Defense, page 36

Student News, page 38

Cardozo Welcomes Two New Deans, page 41

Movers & Shakers, page 42

Alumni News & Class Notes, page 44

End Note, page 53

Why Did Liberals Join The Majority In The Masterpiece Case?, Katherine A. Shaw

Online Publications

It was no surprise that Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has cast the decisive vote in so many important Supreme Court cases, wrote Monday’s majority opinion in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker named Jack Phillips who, on religious grounds, had refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

Brief Of Amici Curiae Law Professors And Economists In Support Of Petitioner, Edward A. Zelinsky

Amicus Briefs

Amici are professors of tax law and economics at universities across the United States. As scholars and teachers, they have considered the economic consequences of this Court’s decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992), and have concluded that Quill’s dormant Commerce Clause holding should be overruled. Amici join this brief solely on their own behalf and not as representatives of their universities. A full list of amici appears in Appendix A.

Brief Of Tax Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Edward A. Zelinsky

Amicus Briefs

Amici are professors of tax law at universities across the United States. As scholars and teachers, they have considered the doctrinal roots and practical consequences of judicial limits on state and local taxation. Amici join this brief solely on their own behalf and not as representatives of their universities. A full list of amici appears in the Appendix to this brief.

The Search For Third Options In A Two-Bathroom Society, Sharon R. Cruz

Articles

This Note presents a narrative on and the history of transgender bathroom rights in this country, beginning with the reasoning for a two-bathroom society and the development of “bathroom laws”. The development of the two-bathroom society is intertwined with and rooted in beliefs that have remained prevalent since the Victorian Era, ideas about core differences between men and women, and how best to protect the virtues of women. In order to weave this narrative, this Note focuses particularly on current cases that are making their way through our Courts: the stories of Gavin Grimm and Coy Mathis, whose battles are …

Supreme Court Roundup: What Lies Ahead, Cardozo Federalist Society, Floersheimer Center For Constitutional Democracy

Flyers 2016-2017

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Interested Law Professors As Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioner, Edward A. Zelinsky

Amicus Briefs

Amici curiae are 14 professors of law who have devoted much of their teaching and research to the area of state taxes and the role of state tax policy in our federal system. The names and affiliations (for identification purposes only) of amici are included in an addendum to this brief. The amici are concerned with the effect of this Court’s dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence on the development of fair and efficient state tax systems. No decision of this Court has had more effect on state sales and use tax systems than Quill Corporation v. North Dakota. We believe …

Constitutional Venue, Peter L. Markowitz, Lindsay C. Nash

Articles

A foundational concept of American jurisprudence is the principle that it is unfair to allow litigants to be haled into far away tribunals when the litigants and the litigation have little or nothing to do with the location of such courts. Historically, both personal jurisdiction and venue each served this purpose in related, but distinct ways. Personal jurisdiction is, at base, a limit on the authority of the sovereign. Venue, in contrast, aims to protect parties from being forced to litigate in a location where they would be unfairly disadvantaged. The constitutional boundaries of these early principles came to be …

The Irony Of A Faustian Bargain: A Reconsideration Of The Supreme Court's 1953 United States V. Reynolds Decision, David Rudenstine

Articles

No abstract provided.

Testimonial Immunity And The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination: A Study In Isomorphism, Peter Lushing

Articles

This Article accepts and will develop the Court's isomorphic theory of immunity and privilege, and will show why Portash is nonetheless correct in result. A case for a broadened view of the privilege, partially because of the availability of testimonial immunity, will be made. Apftlbaum will be shown to be incorrect in result. This Article will also analyze the problem of immunized testimony and perjury by inconsistent statement, a problem faced once by the Court but left unresolved. Finally, this Article will discuss the constitutional requirements of an immunity statute, and consider an immunity case presently pending before the Supreme …

Full Faith And Credit, More Or Less, To Judgments: Doubts About Thomas V. Washington Gas Light Co., Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

Workmen's compensation awards, decrees of administrative tribunals rather than courts, present the question of how far the mandate of the full faith and credit clause should reach and whether the clause should bar a claimant from pursuing supplemental compensation in a second state. Recently, in Thomas v. Washington Gas Light Co., the Supreme Court decided that full faith and credit should not prevent a claimant from obtaining supplemental compensation. Professor Sterk criticizes the Court's analysis, demonstrating the Thomas Court's neglect of the federal interests that the clause should protect. After examining the clause and its policy underpinnings, Professor Sterk …

Faces Without Features: The Surface Validity Of Criminal Inferences, Peter Lushing

Articles

This article will offer nonempirical grounds to show that instructed inferences operate as the dissenters believe, at least when the instruction does not explicitly refer to the evidence at trial, but to occurrences in general.

Indian Water Rights In Theory And Practice: Navajo Experience In The Colorado River Basin, Monroe E. Price, Gary D. Weatherford

Articles

Although Indian water rights are of critical economic importance, the nature and scope of these rights remain unclear. The Supreme Court has addressed itself to the issue infrequently, and most commentators have limited their discussions to an exegesis of the appellate arguments rather than engage in an analysis of the broader nature and context of these rights. Reservation water rights are of a very special nature: A right to water does not necessarily include a right to the capital investment necessary to realize the economic benefit of an entitlement, and limits on the uses of the water may be at …