On May 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule that required more than 6 million employers to post certain types of notices at work informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. While notifying employees …
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 …
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to review an important case on race and sex discrimination (also known as affirmative action) that will give it another chance to overturn a court of appeals ruling and confirm that discrimination is always wrong. Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action is an …
This morning, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry, a constitutional challenge to California’s definition of marriage as the union of a man and woman. During the oral argument, both Justices Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito noted that same-sex marriage was a very recent experiment—just over a …
Those pressing the Supreme Court to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 essentially argue that marriage as we’ve always known it is not constitutional. But redefining marriage would make marriage about the desires of adults rather than the well-being of children. That was the …
The marriage debate is about more than romance between adults. Society’s interest in the upbringing of children and marriage’s unique ability to serve that interest explains the government’s involvement in the institution, argues Helen Alvare, a law professor at George Mason University and a leading expert on marriage and family …
George Will opens his recent column criticizing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on federalism grounds by quoting from a 1948 Supreme Court case: “[U]nder the Constitution, the regulation and control of marital and family relationships are reserved to the States.” What he doesn’t point out is that the citation …
Religious liberty doesn’t stop at the church doors. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the nonpartisan public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religions, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court making the case that legal recognition of same-sex relationships as marriages creates hazards for …
