Constitution Tag

Some of Florida ex-felon vote in limbo after SCOTUS ruling

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 17, 2020 32 Comments

Why do so many people, Democrat and Republican alike, assume that felons released from prison will vote Democrat, and that a Florida ballot initiative that passed in 2018, restoring voting to ex-felons, would help Democrats? It's not clear that's true, at least not to the extent people assume.

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Supreme Court unanimously upholds states’ right to penalize Faithless Electors

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 06, 2020 48 Comments

The Supreme Court has ruled in a case involving whether states may require that Electors of the Electoral College vote in accordance with the popular vote in the state.

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George Washington University Supports D.C. Statehood With No Indication of a Faculty, Student Vote

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 29, 2020 1 Comment

"As one of the oldest institutions in the city, the university may have legitimately wanted to be heard on the question."...

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VIDEO – Wisconsin Sup. Ct. Justice: Isn’t state’s lockdown order “the very definition of tyranny?”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 05, 2020 62 Comments

The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral argument via video in the case brought by the Wisconsin legislature contesting the authority of state officials to impose a lockdown order. We covered the case before, please refer to those posts for background:

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Wisconsin Sup. Ct. Schedules Argument In Legislature’s Lockdown Lawsuit Against Governor

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 01, 2020 31 Comments

One of the more interesting lockdown lawsuits is a suit brought by the Wisconsin Legislature contesting the state's lockdown order. We covered the case in Wisconsin Legislature sues to stop Governor’s Stay-at-Home Order:

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VIDEO: Constitutional Rights in the Age of Government Overreach

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on April 26, 2020 31 Comments

Howdy! We're super excited about our first ever live (online) event. The discussion was hosted by moi, Legal Insurrection's Senior Contributing Editor and the Director of Operations and Editorial Development for the Legal Insurrection Foundation, Kemberlee Kaye. Legal Insurrection publisher and Cornell Law Professor, William Jacobson headed up the discussion.

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Wisconsin Legislature sues to stop Governor’s Stay-at-Home Order

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 22, 2020 55 Comments

There is a still small, but rising, number of lawsuits seeking court intervention to address state and local excesses in ordering varying degrees of lockdown in response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. We previously covered the Kentucky and Mississippi religious freedom cases.

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Conservative groups call on DOJ to stop “rampant abuses of constitutional rights and civil liberties … by governors and local officials”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 19, 2020 42 Comments

Attorney General William Barr has signaled that the federal government will take action with regard to violations of the constitutional rights of citizens by state and local officials as part of Wuhan coronavirus 'stay at home' and shutdown orders. Barr was addressing particularly violations of religious freedom.

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First Amendment Fail — Raleigh Police: “Protesting is a non-essential activity”

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 14, 2020 102 Comments

Our Founding Fathers never once said that the rights given to us by our Creator go out the door in the case of a viral pandemic. In other words, the Constitution still exists and it still protects us from tyrants. The Raleigh Police Department had the nerve to tell someone on Twitter that protesting is a non-essential activity.

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Federal Court Prohibits Louisville Mayor from Banning Easter Sunday Drive-in Church Service

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 11, 2020 20 Comments

The Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, has threatened to fine anyone who attends a drive-in Easter Sunday church service, even though attendees would remain in their cars in the parking lot.

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DOJ IG Report: “We do not have confidence that the FBI” acted “in compliance with FBI policy” on FISA applications

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 31, 2020 64 Comments

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowowitz released a report today on FBI practices in making Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications to the FISA court. If the entire country were not focused (understandably) on the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, this would dominating the news.

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Trump Vindicated Again: Appeals Court Rules House Can’t Enforce Subpoena To Don McGahn

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 28, 2020 24 Comments

Article of Impeachment II against Donald Trump was "obstruction of Congress." One of the bases for the Article was the Trump administration's position that it did not have to comply with House Committee subpoenas to senior administration officials.

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Trump administration sides with Asian American students in discrimination suit against Harvard

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 27, 2020 40 Comments

Harvard University discriminates against students of Asian ethnicity in admissions. That much is beyond doubt. Harvard is far from alone. Study after study have shown that Asian students need to outperform other students, particularly other non-white minorities, on standardized tests and grades in order to obtain admission.

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Another One Bites The Dust: Appeals Court Throws Out Democrat Congressional Emoluments Lawsuit Against Trump

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 07, 2020 31 Comments

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit "threw out a lawsuit by more than 200 Democratic members of Congress that alleged President Trump was improperly profiting from his presidency."

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The Federalist Society is Under Attack (Again)

Posted by Mark Pulliam on January 31, 2020 16 Comments

As has been widely reported, a recently-released draft advisory opinion of the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the Judicial Conference of the United States—a 15-member group of judges responsible for fashioning and interpreting ethical rules applicable to the federal judiciary—concluded that membership in the non-partisan Federalist Society by judges, law clerks, and staff attorneys is improper because the group’s ideological orientation would call its members’ impartiality into question.

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Supreme Court “Faithless Electors” case has potential to destabilize 2020 election result

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 17, 2020 91 Comments

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases presenting the issue of whether Electoral College electors can be bound by state law to vote consistent with the state popular vote winner. The concept of electors voting as the voters in their states voted is central to the viability of the Electoral College.

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9th Circuit rejects “Kids’ Climate Change” lawsuit against U.S. government

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 17, 2020 17 Comments

The last time we checked in on the so-called Kids' Climate Change lawsuit, in November 2018, we noted that the trial was on hold, Trial of Kids Climate Change Lawsuit indefinitely postponed:

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While everyone was focused on impeachment, 5th Circuit cut the legs out from under Obamacare

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 18, 2019 28 Comments

A year ago almost to the day, we reported that a Texas federal judge (1) held that the Obamacare individual mandate was unconstitutional after Congress repealed the mandate tax (which was the justification for the Supreme Court upholding the mandate in 2012), and (2) the mandate was not severable from the rest of the law, so the entire law fell. It was a full defeat of Obamacare, Federal Judge kills Obamacare:

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