Supreme Court of the United States Commons^™

At The Intersection Of Religious Organization Missions And Employment Laws: The Case Of Minister Employment Suits, Jarod S. Gonzalez

Catholic University Law Review

Reviewing the intersection of a religious organization’s right to select employees based on their goals and mission and modern employment law, this article argues that the analysis of the ministerial exception will depend on the type of suit brought. Specifically, the Article identifies five analytical categories: (1) employment discrimination/employment retaliation claims; (2) breach of employment contract claims; (3) whistleblower claims; (4) tort claims; and (5) miscellaneous claims.

The Article begins by describing the ministerial exception and ecclesiastical abstention doctrines that exist under the First Amendment through the lens of the Supreme Court’s decision in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School …

The Quid Pro Quo Quark: Unstable Elementary Particle Of Honest Services Fraud, Brian H. Connor

Catholic University Law Review

From 1946 to 1987, the federal mail fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1341, was a powerful tool for the prosecution of political corruption. In a line of decisions beginning with the Fifth Circuit’s in Shushan v. United States, and ending with the Supreme Court’s decision in McNally v. United States, courts upheld the use of the statute to prosecute officials who had deprived the public of its “intangible right” to the official’s “honest services.” In 1988, after the Supreme Court held this theory unconstitutionally vague in McNally, Congress enacted § 1346, intending to restore “honest services fraud” …

Hopeful Clarity Or Hopeless Disarray?: An Examination Of Town Of Greece V. Galloway And The Establishment Clause, Krista M. Pikus

Catholic University Law Review

Reviewing Establishment Clause jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, this article notes that the current state of this area of law is in hopeless disarray and argues that the Court should resolve this confusion by employing a few proposed solutions. The article begins by reviewing and analyzing the confusion surrounding modern Establishment Clause jurisprudence. The article then discusses what interpretation of the Establishment Clause should be controlling: strict-separationism, nonpreferentialism, enhanced federalism, or the incorporation doctrine. Next, the article details what is wrong with modern establishment clause jurisprudence, namely, the Court’s inconsistent application of different tests to assess government action under the …

The Supreme Court And The Federal Circuit: A Case Of Supervision By Generalists, Jay Dratler Jr.

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

Many of the "general rules" that the Federal Circuit developed in its effort to simplify patent law turned out to be too crabbed and formalistic to do the job that Jefferson intended. As a result, the Supreme Court has had to step in. In virtually every case where it has done so, the High Court has rejected a narrow, formulaic rule proposed by the Federal Circuit and opted for something more general and flexible.

This paper analyzes some key cases of that sort. In the process, it attempts to answer the question "why"? Why did a specialized court fail to …

The Top Five Supreme Court Nomination Myths, Paul M. Collins Jr., Lori A. Ringhand

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Beauty Fades: An Experimental Study Of Federal Court Design Patent Aesthetics, Dr. Andrew W. Torrance

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

What Two Legal Scholars Learned From Studying 70 Years Of Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, Lori A. Ringhand, Paul Collins

Popular Media

This article in The Conversation on March 21, 2016 and moves beyond the conventional wisdom espoused by Biden, Kagan and others, and presents a strong case for an alternative view of the hearings. Examining every statement made at confirmation hearings from 1939 to 2010, we conclude the hearings are important to the health of American democracy. Based on this, we’d like to see partisan politics pushed aside and Judge Merrick Garland to get a hearing.

How Merrick Garland Could Help Heal America, Jeffrey Bellin

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

History, Heller, And High-Capacity Magazines: What Is The Proper Standard Of Review For Second Amendment Challenges?, Lindsay Colvin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Fair Trial: When The Constitution Requires Attorneys To Investigate Their Clients' Brains, Ellen G. Koenig

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The U.S. Constitution guarantees every criminal defendant the right to a fair trial. This fundamental right includes the right to a defense counsel who provides effective assistance. To be effective, attorneys must sometimes develop specific types of evidence in crafting the best defense. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has found that defense attorneys did not provide effective assistance when they failed to consider neuroscience. But when must defense attorneys develop neuroscience in order to provide effective assistance? This question is difficult because the standard for determining effective assistance is still evolving. There are two leading approaches. First, in …

Community Control Over Camera Surveillance: A Response To Bennett Capers’S Crime, Surveillance, And Communities, Christopher Slobogin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Interrogation First, Miranda Warnings Afterward: A Critical Analysis Of The Supreme Court's Approach To Delayed Miranda Warnings, Joshua I. Rodriguez

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Second Amendment Standards Of Review In A Heller World, Nelson Lund

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Great Gun Control War Of The Twentieth Century—And Its Lessons For Gun Laws Today, David B. Kopel

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Gun Control After Heller And Mcdonald: What Cannot Be Done And What Ought To Be Done, Gary Kleck

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Heller, Mcdonald, And Murder: Testing The More Guns = More Murder Thesis, Don B. Kates, Carlisle Moody

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Rights Versus Duties, History Department Lawyering, And The Incoherence Of Justice Stevens’S Heller Dissent, Nicholas J. Johnson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Why Can't We Be Like France? How The Right To Bear Arms Got Left Out Of The Declaration Of Rights And How Gun Registration Was Decreed Just In Time For The Nazi Occupation, Stephen P. Halbrook

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Gun Control And The Second Amendment: Developments And Controversies In The Wake Of District Of Columbia V. Heller And Mcdonald V. Chicago, Harris Fischman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The (New) New Judicial Federalism: State Constitutions And The Protection Of The Individual Right To Bear Arms, Michael B. De Leeuw

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Right To Carry Firearms Outside Of The Home: Separating Historical Myths From Historical Realities, Saul Cornell

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Second Amendment In Historiographical Crisis: Why The Supreme Court Must Reevaluate The Embarrassing “Standard Model” Moving Forward, Patrick J. Charles

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Ideological Imbalance: Why Democrats Usually Pick Moderate-Liberal Justices And Republicans Usually Pick Conservative Ones, Lawrence Baum, Neal Devins

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Roe V. Wade's Nightmare: The Current Legal State Of Abortion Rights In The Dominican Republic, Sharly Larios

Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Stanley V. Illinois’S Untold Story, Josh Gupta-Kagan

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Stanley v. Illinois is one of the Supreme Court’s more curious landmark cases. The holding is well known: the Due Process Clause both prohibits states from removing children from the care of unwed fathers simply because they are not married and requires states to provide all parents with a hearing on their fitness. By recognizing strong due process protections for parents’ rights, Stanley reaffirmed Lochner-era cases that had been in doubt and formed the foundation of modern constitutional family law. But Peter Stanley never raised due process arguments, so it has long been unclear how the Court reached this decision. …

Maintaining Institutional Power And Constitutional Principles: A Rhetorical Analysis Of United States V. Nixon, R. Scott Medsker, Todd F. Mcdorman

Speaker & Gavel

In examining these implications we argue that the Court’s Nixon decision was a uniquely strategic response to a complex rhetorical situation. In fact, the elements of the situation were so fundamental to the tenor of the Court’s response that this essay’s framework is drawn from Lloyd F. Bitzer’s construction of the rhetorical situation. The use of this system will allow for deeper consideration of the context of United States v. Nixon as well as assessment of the legal text as responsive to that context.

Discrimination And Business Regulation, Eileen Kaufman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Districtly Speaking: Evenwel V. Abbott And The Apportionment Population Debate, Joey Herman

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, promises substantial equality of population within state legislative districts under the “one-person, one-vote” rule. Most frequently, total population is the basis for state reapportionament, but state citizenship and voter registration populations have also been acceptable bases in certain situations. The case of Evenwel v. Abbott, provides the Court with the opportunity to resolve the permissible population basis for reapportionment of state legislative districts. This Commentary argues that a state may rely upon total population as the basis for apportionment because such an approach is consistent …

The Latest Word From The Supreme Court On Punitive Damages, Leon D. Lazer

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Padilla V. Kentucky On The Immigration Courts: Does The Potential For Vacating A Criminal Plea Effect Removal/Deportation Proceedings?, Hon. Dorothy A. Harbeck, M. Michelle Park, Yoonji Kim, J.D.

Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.