How Supreme Court precedents die before they are overruled
When the Supreme Court says a precedent has been “abandoned,” the real work has already been done. Read more Nine days in June That was the story of Lemon v.…
Nine days in June
As we await the usual late-June flurry of decisions – some of them quite significant – I wanted to reflect on what I believe to be the most extraordinary June…
The dissent that became a statute
Near the end of her career, Lilly Ledbetter received an anonymous note: she was being paid far less than every man doing the same job. Ledbetter was one of the…
The Supreme Court’s confusing use of “principles”
Last December I published a column entitled “Party presentation: a mysterious new rule?”, addressing a summary reversal in a criminal case, Clark v. Sweeney. On May 26, the court the…
The Supreme Court’s neutering of the First Step Act
In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act with rare bipartisan support. Hailed as “the most significant criminal justice reform bill in a generation,” the basic premise of the act…
The campaign to overrule Obergefell
Supporters of same-sex marriage breathed a sigh of relief when the Roberts court denied review last year in Davis v. Ermold, a case in which a county clerk in Kentucky,…
On D-Day, did FDR violate the establishment clause?
Please note that SCOTUS Outside Opinions constitute the views of outside contributors and do not reflect the official opinions of SCOTUSblog. Read more Do Americans Support Expanding the Court? A…
The Supreme Court’s long history of shaping race
Race has played an important role in U.S. citizenship and immigration law since the earliest days of the nation’s history. By categorizing people into distinct races, Congress and the courts…
When and why did complying with the Voting Rights Act become unconstitutional?
Please note that SCOTUS Outside Opinions constitute the views of outside contributors and do not reflect the official opinions of SCOTUSblog. Read more The two Roberts courts In part 1…
The two Roberts courts
The current court is often described as composed of six Republican-appointed conservatives and three Democratic-appointed liberals. And that shorthand explains many of the court’s most visible decisions. But it also…