How should courts respond when the legislature does not adequately fund operation of the criminal justice system and thereby denies a defendant his constitutional rights? The Supreme Court avoided answering that question Monday, but the Court cannot avoid it forever. Fifty years ago the Supreme Court held in Gideon v. …
This week, the Supreme Court issued a historic decision that will help prevent U.S. courts (and activist judges) from interfering in foreign policy issues that are—and should be—the constitutional prerogative of the executive and legislative branches. Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum involved the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which was passed …
This morning, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in McDonald v. Chicago, a landmark case addressing whether states can deny the rights of their citizens to keep and bear arms. This question was left open by the Supreme Court’s groundbreaking yet common sense decision in Heller v. District of …
According to the New Haven Register, newbie Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told her fellow Yale Law School alums that her Supreme Court nomination acceptance ceremony wardrobe was subject to the White House’s prior approval. Justice Sotomayor’s remarks were delivered privately on Saturday at her 30th Yale Law School reunion. …
Live reader chat with Robert Alt on Sotomayor and the Court
Yesterday’s Supreme Court opinion in Ricci, the New Haven firefighters case, provides a window to what will inevitably be a significant line of questioning in Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings. After all, Judge Sotomayor not only reached the wrong decision in this case, allowing overt racial discrimination in protection of what …
“…and if I’m fortunate before we end this, I won’t have to read one of them.” Apparently Senator Reid is going to use the same deliberative process for Judge Sotomayor that he used for the stimulus bill. Don’t read anything and hope for the best. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D22_p7CkICE[/youtube]
