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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

Father Chief Justice: A Constitutional Play

Posted on February 16, 2011
Actor, playwright, and Con Law Prof Paul Baier (LSU) will take his play "Father Chief Justice" Edward Douglass White and the Constitution to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 8, 2011. (He previously staged it, to great acclaim, at the AALS...

Kent Announces 2011 Palmer Prize Competition

Posted on February 14, 2011
ITT Chicago-Kent College of Law announced that it would accept entries for the Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberty Prize, a $10,000 prize designed to encourage and reward public debate among scholars on current issues affecting the rights of individuals and....

Constitutional Right to Same-Sex "Divorce"

Posted on February 14, 2011
Jurisdictions that do not recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions have nevertheless been sites of petitions for divorce or dissolution of a legal status granted in another jurisdiction. In an article forthcoming in California Western International Law Journal, Professor L...

Nonviolent Revolution: India, Egypt and West Virginia Weekend

Posted on February 13, 2011
Recent events in Egypt are a meaningful reminder of the power of broad-based, nonviolent movements from the history of other nations, such as India. Earlier this month, we explored the presidential election process under the Egyptian Constitution here and its...

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The Palmetto Dollar?: South Carolina Considering its own Currency

Posted on February 12, 2011
Undaunted by the Constitution's explicit prohibition of the power to coin money to States, Article I section 10, South Carolina Senate Bill 500 seeks a joint legislative subcommittee to study whether the state should adopt its own currency. The Senate...

Virginia AG Seeks Supreme Court Review of Health Care Reform

Posted on February 09, 2011
Virginia AG Kenneth Cuccinelli yesterday filed a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment in the Supreme Court, seeking review of Judge Hudon's (E.D. Va.) ruling in Virginia v. Sebelius in December, holding the individual health insurance mandate in...

Egypt's Constitution: More on Presidential Election

Posted on February 08, 2011
There is continuing discussion of the relevance of the Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the present situation on Egypt, with banners such as the one pictured left (via) which reads "leave" in Arabic. In our last post,...

Southern Sudan Independence

Posted on February 07, 2011
Official referendum results released today in Khartoum confirmed earlier predictions that Southern Sudanese voted overwhelmingly for secession--99 percent in favor, according to the official results. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir accepted the results in a ceremony also attended by Southern Sudan's...

Campbell Law Review Symposium

Posted on February 07, 2011
The Campbell Law Review will host its 2011 symposium on May 18, 2011. Here's the announcement: The Campbell Law Review presents its annual 2011 symposium: Liberalism, Constitutionalism, and Christianity: Perspectives on the Influence of Christianity on Classical Liberal Legal Thought...

Superbowl Stadium: Constitutional Controversies

Posted on February 06, 2011
Some will be watching today's "Superbowl" in the Cowboys Stadium as a sports event, but for constitutional law fans, the 1.3 (or so) billion dollar Stadium is an example of the Fifth Amendment's Taking Clause in action. First, there is...

Abstinence Sex Education Scholarship: West Virginia Weekend

Posted on February 06, 2011
Abstinence sexual education is again being debated. Bristol Palin's planned appearance at the University of Washington in St. Louis on February 7 "to speak on abstinence as part of Washington University?s student Sexual Responsibility Week" has been canceled because "of...

Constitutional Law as Anchor: Lutie Lytle

Posted on February 05, 2011
"I like constitutional law because the anchor of my race is grounded on the constitution. It is the certificate of our liberty and our equality before the law. Our citizenship is based on it, and hence I love it." So...

Another Health Care Reform Challenge Dismissed

Posted on February 04, 2011
Judge Keith Starrett (S.D. Miss.) today dismissed a challenge to the individual health insurance mandate in the federal Affordable Care Act. The case, Bryant v. Holder, involved private Mississippians who do not possess any form of health insurance and who...

Freedom of the Press as a Universal Value? Clinton, Carter, Canada, and WikiLeaks

Posted on February 04, 2011
Hillary Clinton, speaking as US Secretary of State, condemned violence against members of the press in Egypt, noting that "freedom of the press" is one of the pillars of an "open and inclusive society." Meanwhile, in the United States itself,...

St. John's Seeks Visiting Con Law Prof

Posted on February 03, 2011
St. John's seeks a visiting Con Law Prof for the Spring Semester 2012. Here's the announcement:??? St. John's University School of Law is seeking an in-residence Spring 2012 visiting professor to teach Constitutional Law (a 1L required course, 4 credits,...

Presidential Signing Statements Databases

Posted on February 02, 2011
Profs. Neil Kinkopf (Georgia State) and Peter Shane (Ohio State, Moritz) last week posted Signed Under Protest: A Database of Presidential Signing Statements, 2001-2009 (Version 2.0) on SSRN. The paper updates their earlier work on President George W...

Senate Judiciary Committee to Consider Constitutionality of Health Care Reform

Posted on February 02, 2011
The Senate Judiciary Committee will take up the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act this morning, 10:00 a.m. (EST). Here's the witness list: Oregon AG John Kroger Randy Barnett Jones Day Partner Michael Carvin Walter Dellinger Charles Fried The hearing...

Judge Vinson Rules Health Care Reform Unconstitutional

Posted on January 31, 2011
Judge Vinson (N.D. Fla.) ruled today in State of Florida v. U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Services that the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act was unconstitutional--in its entirety. The ruling declared that the individual health insurance mandate...

NY's Chief Judge Lippman to Speak about Right to Counsel in Civil Cases

Posted on January 31, 2011
There is a growing movement for a right to an attorney in civil cases, sometimes known as a civil Gideon, coupled with increased funding for civil legal services and legal aid. We've discussed the right to counsel in civil litigation...

Mountaintop Removal and the Fifth Amendment: West Virginia Weekend

Posted on January 30, 2011
Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its 99 page final determination regarding the mining permit for Arch Coal, Inc.?s Spruce No. 1 mine, located in southern West Virginia (pictured below). The EPA rescinded the Clean Water Act...

Onwuachi-Willig Among 9 Finalists for Iowa Supreme Court

Posted on January 29, 2011
The Judicial Nominating Commission in Iowa, the subject of a recent unsuccessful lawsuit regarding its composition, has sifted through the 60 applicants and sent 9 candidates for the 3 vacancies to the Governor. There is one woman, one racial minority,...

Egypt's Constitution: Presidential Election

Posted on January 29, 2011
Several provisions of the Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt address the election of President. The ongoing events in Egypt raise the possibility that the three decade Presidency of Hosni Mubarak (pictured right) is coming to an end. Article....

Senate Agrees to Filibuster Changes

Posted on January 28, 2011
Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) today agreed to changes in the Senate's filibuster practices. But the basic cloture rule appears to remain intact. We most recently posted on the issue here (where we predicted that the Senate....

France's Constitutional Court Upholds Ban of Same-Sex Marriage

Posted on January 28, 2011
The Conseil Constitutionnel of France rejected a challenge to France's limitation of marriage to a man and a woman. In a relatively brief (by US standards) and long anticipated opinion (English translation), the court reasoned that the issue of equality...

Vote Counting in County Judicial Election

Posted on January 28, 2011
A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit ruled yesterday in Hunter v. Hamilton County Board of Elections that Tracie Hunter, a candidate for Hamilton County (Ohio) Juvenile Court Judge, had a strong likelihood of success on the merits of her...

Facebook as a Fundamental Right?

Posted on January 28, 2011
It is not only law students who believe facebook and twitter are "fundamental rights." State Department Spokesperson P.J. Crowley, speaking to AlJezeera about the situation in Eqypt, described "social media" as a "fundamental right, as clear as walking into a...

Judicial Emergency in Arizona

Posted on January 26, 2011
Chief Judge Roslyn O. Silver (D. Az.) last Friday issued General Order No. 11-01, Declaration of Judicial Emergency Under the Speedy Trial Act, for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. The judicial emergency is authorized by....

No Formal Filibuster Reform This Session

Posted on January 25, 2011
Senate Democrats today concluded that they couldn't muster the 51 votes necessary to change Senate Rule XXII, the cloture rule, and thus formally reform the filibuster. Why just 51 votes, a bare majority? Under the "constitutional option," the Senate can...

Fifth Circuit Upholds UT Affirmative Action Plan

Posted on January 24, 2011
A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit last week upheld the affirmative action plan used by the University of Texas for its undergraduate admissions. The panel ruled in Fisher v. University of Texas that the plan was modeled on the...

Actualizing a Civil Right to Counsel

Posted on January 24, 2011
The Maryland Access to Justice Commission recently released its report Implementing a Civil Right to Counsel in Maryland, a strategy paper for implementing a state-paid civil right to counsel, or Civil Gideon, in that state. The report advocates for a...

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