Kansas v. Glover: Just Common Sense?
We have no idea why Officer Mehrer decided to check on Glover’s license plate. Might it matter after all? Can a jurisdiction instruct its officers to run the license plate of every automobile they come across and to assume that any owner whose license has been suspended or revoked should be stopped to see if the owner is driving? What is the common-sense answer?
It Could Have Been Worse, But a Statute Designed to “Break Down All Discrimination” Against African Americans Deserves Better than Comcast Corporation v. National Association of African American-Owned Media
The year after the Civil War, the federal government made a commitment to Black people in this country. In simple but sweeping language, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 mandates that “[a]ll persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right . . . to make and enforce contracts . . . as is enjoyed by white citizens.”
Allen v. Cooper: States Stay Copyright Pirates
“Who are today’s pirates?”
The Concession that Dooms Originalism: A Response to Professor Lawrence Solum
Professor Eric J. Segall · April 2020 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 33 This essay responds to a recent article by Professor Lawrence Solum in the Northwestern University Law Review, which describes alleged differences between Originalism and Living Constitutionalism. This paper argues that even under Solum’s own criteria there is no meaningful difference between these... Read More
Patent Law 101: The View from the Bench
Professor Matthew G. Sipe · April 2020 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 21 On April 17th, 2019, Senators Tillis (R-NC) and Coons (D-DE), along with Representatives Collins (R-GA), Johnson (D-GA), and Stivers (R-OH), released a draft of proposed reforms to § 101 of the patent statute—the provision governing subject-matter eligibility—citing, among other reasons, the complexities and... Read More
Kahler v. Kansas: Narrowing the Insanity Defense
Could a state now abolish both prongs of the M’Naghten standard (or any variants thereof)? Could a state reject any formulation of an insanity defense and bar evidence of insanity at trial entirely?
Equality Is a Brokered Idea
Professor Robert Tsai · March 2020 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 1 This essay examines the Supreme Court’s stunning decision in the census case, Department of Commerce v. New York. Professor Robert Tsai characterizes Chief Justice John Roberts’s decision to side with the liberals as a collective effort to pursue the ends of equality by... Read More
Kansas v. Garcia: The Court Greenlights State Prosecutions of Unauthorized Workers
Propelled to office on his celebrity and a populist platform, the Republican president’s “Make America Great Again” slogan rallied his conservative base and positioned him to sign sweeping immigration legislation during his second term in office. If that last bit sounds off, it may help to clarify that the president in question was Ronald Reagan, the year was 1986, and the legislation was the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA).
On the Docket’s Preview of the March Supreme Court Arguments
March 2 Nasrallah v. Barr No. 18-1432, 11th Cir. Preview by Megan Walden In Nasrallah v. Barr, the Court will resolve a long-standing circuit split in immigration law and determine whether the Court of Appeals has jurisdiction to review findings of fact in denials of withholding and deferral of removal cases. Nidal Khalid Nasrallah, a... Read More
On the Docket’s Preview of the February Supreme Court Arguments
February 24 United States Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association; Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association No. 18-1584 & 18-1587, 4th Cir. Preview by Taylor Dowd, Senior Online Editor Is the Appalachian Trail, the 2,200-mile-long stretch running from Georgia to Maine, “land,” or just a footpath traversing land? The Appalachian Trail... Read More