As the 2000 Presidential election reminded everyone, the President is not elected directly by the People but rather by the Electoral College. Because each state has as many presidential electors as it has U.S. Representatives and Senators, smaller states have more electoral votes than their population warrants. At the same… Read More »
I.
Ordinary people take countless measures to avoid being searched by police or other government agents. To get an inkling of how frequently the innocent alter their behavior, consider the responses of law-abiding people to recently enacted counterterrorism programs. When faced with delays and discomfort caused by more rigorous baggage… Read More »
In 2009, a 15-year-old student from Richmond, California left her homecoming dance to join a drinking session on school property. She quickly became intoxicated and, over the next two hours, was attacked by as many as ten assailants who “laughed and took photos as they took turns” raping her. Police… Read More »
Introduction
Few scholars would dispute that the way in which political institutions are designed affects the way that policymakers behave or the kinds of policies that are produced. Nor can it seriously be argued that courts are somehow an exception to the basic rule that institutional design matters. It is… Read More »
On a Wednesday in September 2008, presumptive vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was introduced at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota for her much-anticipated speech accepting the Republican nomination. Before she spoke, the rock band Heart’s classic song “Barracuda” was played for the energized crowd. The song was played again… Read More »
In early 2007, the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary launched an investigation into the 2006 dismissal of seven U.S. Attorneys from the Department of Justice. The Committee issued subpoenas to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, ordering both to produce documents… Read More »
Kurt T. Lash
The current debates over the incorporation of the Second Amendment have reignited interest in the historical understanding of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court’s history-laden analysis of the Second Amendment in District of Columbia v. Heller signaled the Court’s openness to… Read More »
On August 5, 2008, the State of Texas executed José Ernesto Medellín for his participation in the brutal rape and murder of two teenage girls, ending a fifteen-year legal battle that implicated numerous questions of constitutional and international law. Medellín alleged that he was prejudiced in his initial trial because… Read More »
Unlike political scientists and law professors who link Supreme Court decision making to public opinion, we argue that Supreme Court Justices care more about the views of academics, journalists, and other elites than they do about public opinion. This is true of nearly all Justices and is especially true… Read More »
Constitutional scholars generally believe that the majority of the Supreme Court in The Slaughterhouse Cases erred in their narrow construction of the Privileges or Immunities Clause. Justice Samuel Miller’s attempt to distinguish the privileges and immunities of Article IV from the privileges or immunities of Section One is particularly vilified… Read More »