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Constitutional Law

Constitutional Law Prof Blog

News, analysis, and commentary on constitutional law issues in the courts, the administration, Congress, and the states; and commentary and analysis on constitutional law scholarship.
By Steven D. Schwinn, Ruthann Robson, Nareissa L. Smith

Post Frequency: 3.1/day

Last Entry: November 04, 2020 at 10:04:25

Supreme Court Tests LBGTQ Rights Against Free Exercise Claim

Posted on November 04, 2020
Steven D. Schwinn, University of Illinois Chicago Law School The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, the case testing whether the city's enforcement of a clause in its foster-care contracts that prohibits discrimination...

Government Seeks Stay of Census Order at Supreme Court

Posted on October 08, 2020
Steven D. Schwinn, University of Illinois Chicago Law School The Trump Administration yesterday filed a motion at the Supreme Court to stay, pending appeal, a district court's order directing the government to continue census operations until October 31...

Second Circuit Rebuffs Trump's Case Against NY Grand Jury Subpoena

Posted on October 07, 2020
Steven D. Schwinn, University of Illinois Chicago Law School The Second Circuit today flatly rejected President Trump's case challenging the NY grand jury subpoena for his financial records. The ruling follows a summer Supreme Court decision saying that the grand...

Obergefell as Precedent: First Monday in October

Posted on October 05, 2020
Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law On the first Monday in October, the United States Supreme Court begins its Term, this time with only eight of the usual nine Justices given Justice Ginsburg's death...

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Supreme Court to Hear First Amendment Challenge to Political Balancing Requirements for State Courts

Posted on October 04, 2020
Steven D. Schwinn, University of Illinois Chicago Law School The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow, the opening day of October Term 2020, in Carney v. Adams. The case tests whether Delaware's "political balancing" requirements for its courts violate...

Check it Out: The Voter-Fraud Myth and How it Impacts the Right to Vote

Posted on October 01, 2020
Check out this in-depth story on the history of claims of voter fraud, and how those claims affect the right to vote. From the NYT.

Seventh Circuit Rebuffs Appeal by Republicans, State Legislation in Wisconsin Voting Case

Posted on September 30, 2020
Steven D. Schwinn, University of Illinois Chicago Law School The Seventh Circuit flatly rejected an appeal by the Wisconsin legislature and the state and national Republican Party of a lower court's order that the state extend voting deadlines in light...

How Could a Justice Amy Coney Barrett Affect the Affordable Care Act?

Posted on September 30, 2020
Looking for a plain-English explainer on how a Justice Amy Coney Barrett could affect the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, in a case scheduled for oral argument on November 10? Here you go:

President Trump Announces Nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett

Posted on September 26, 2020
Here's SCOTUSblog's resource page: https://www.scotusblog.com/category/special-features/nomination-of-amy-coney-barrett-to-the-supreme-court/ Here's the Seventh Circuit opinions website, which allows you to search opinions by author: http://media.ca7...

District Court Halts Administration's Plan to Rush Census

Posted on September 26, 2020
Steven D. Schwinn, University of Illinois Chicago Law School Judge Lucy H. Koh (N.D. Cal.) ruled this week that the Trump Administration's late summer plan to rush census data collection likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The ruling halts the...

Justice Ginsburg Lies in State at Capitol

Posted on September 25, 2020
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg today became the first woman to lie in state at the Capitol. Here's the NYT report, with live updates.

D.C. Circuit Says House Has Standing to Challenge Trump's Reprogramming Funds for Wall

Posted on September 25, 2020
The D.C. Circuit ruled today that the House of Representatives has standing to challenge President Trump's reprogramming of federal funds to build a border wall. The ruling is a setback for the Trump Administration and its efforts to build the...

Federal Judge Enjoins Federal Agents Acting Against Journalists and Legal Observers in Portland, Oregon

Posted on July 24, 2020
Professor Ruthann Robson, City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law In a Temporary Restraining Order and Opinion in Index Newspapers v. City of Portland, Judge Michael Simon enjoined the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ("DHS"); and the U.S...

Court Says Congress Can Subpoena Trump Financial Records, but Must Account for Separation of Powers Concerns

Posted on July 09, 2020
Steven D. Schwinn, UIC Law School The Supreme Court ruled today that while Congress has authority to issue subpoenas for the President's personal financial records, courts that judge those subpoenas must take more careful account of the separation-of-powers considerations at...

Court Say State Grand Jury Can Subpoena President's Taxes, Financial Records

Posted on July 09, 2020
Steven D. Schwinn, UIC Law School The Supreme Court ruled today that a state grand jury is not categorically prohibited from issuing a subpoena for the President's taxes and financial records. But the ruling leaves open the possibility that the...

Loyola Conference: Hate Speech, Incitement & Genocide

Posted on March 31, 2011
The Loyola University Chicago Law Review is hosting a conference next Friday, April 8, titled Hate Speech, Incitement & Genocide. The line-up is terrific, with panels on Developing the Structure of Genocide Law, Hate Speech and Genocide in Africa and...

Arizona Abortion Law: Requiring an Affidavit Excluding Race or Sex as Reasons

Posted on March 30, 2011
Race-selective and Sex-selection abortions are the subject of a new statute in Arizona. According to the Arizona legislature: Evidence shows that minorities are targeted for abortion and that sex-selection abortion is also occurring in our country. There is no place...

Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law Enjoined Again and Other Updates

Posted on March 29, 2011
A separation of powers problem under the Wisconsin state constitution is continuing with a state judge again enjoing implementation of the anti-collective bargaining law and a member of the state executive again disputing the injunction's validity. According to reporters Patrick...

Fourth Circuit Rejects Challenge to Qui Tam Seal Provision

Posted on March 29, 2011
A divided three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit on Monday rejected the ACLU's First Amendment challenge to the False Claims Act requirement that qui tam complaints be sealed for 60 days (or more), until the United States decides to intervene....

No "Constitutional Tort" for Brady Violation by Prosecutors in Connick's New Orleans Office: Connick v. Thompson Opinion Analysis

Posted on March 29, 2011
What are the consequences of a violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U. S. 83, 87 (1963), which requires the prosecution to disclose evidence favorable to the accused and material to his guilt or punishment? If it comes to light...

Conference on Race, Law, and History at Michigan Law, April 1-2

Posted on March 29, 2011
"We Must First Take Account" is a conference the end of this week at Michigan Law on Race, Law, and History. As the organizers explain: ?To get beyond racism, we must first take account of race,? is the well-remembered phrase...

Strip Searches Don't Violate Clearly Established Rights, D.C. Circuit Rules

Posted on March 29, 2011
A sharply split panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled on Friday that strip searches of persons arrested for non-violent, non-drug-related misdemeanors did not violate clearly established Fourth Amendment rights in 2002, even absent particularized suspicion that the arrestee was concealing...

Arizona's Campaign Finance Law and Matching Funds: Oral Argument Analysis

Posted on March 28, 2011
Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Bennett and McComish v. Bennett, consolidated cases challenging Arizona?s statutory system of public campaign financing, were before the Supreme Court today for oral argument. According to William Maurer, attorney for the Petitioners challenging the law,...

Professor's Emails, Open Records, First Amendment: Wisconsin Professor William Cronon

Posted on March 25, 2011
Like many who work at a public university, I have been made aware that my email may be subject to a FOIA request. But I have assumed that such requests would pertain to personnel decisions about colleagues or student matters....

District Court Denies Habeas for Guantanamo Detainee

Posted on March 24, 2011
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia yesterday released a redacted version of Judge Leon's November 2010 opinion denying habeas relief for Guantanamo detainee Obaydullah. Judge Leon today rejected Obaydullah's motion for reconsideration...

DOMA and Federalism Event at Indiana University School of Law

Posted on March 22, 2011
A "mini-symposium" on April 7, 2011, starting at 3pm, will feature a lecture on "One State's Challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act" by Maura Healey, Chief, Civil Rights Division, Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. Healy (pictured right) will be speaking...

Amnesty and Other Organizations have Standing to Challenge Constitutionality of FISA Amendments, Second Circuit Holds

Posted on March 21, 2011
A panel of the Second Circuit has reversed the district judge's summary judgment against plaintiffs who claimed that a portion of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 ("FAA") amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (?FISA?), is unconstitutional...

This Week: Criminal Procedure Oral Arguments at United States Supreme Court

Posted on March 21, 2011
The United States Supreme Court is hearing four important oral arguments dealing with Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments this week. Today, March 21, the Court will hear two cases: Davis v. US involves the ?good faith? exception to the exclusionary...

The Original Tea Party and Regulating Food: WV Weekend Features the Forthcoming Work of Alison Peck

Posted on March 20, 2011
The regulation of food and its consumption have always posed constitutional issues - - - recall the "wheat case" of Wickard v. Filburn (1942) - - - and for the last several years, public health advocates, now prominently joined by...

Birthright Citizenship: Debating the Interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment

Posted on March 17, 2011
Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment provides: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." For some, this provision is...

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