Owning a stun gun or Taser is a crime in seven states and several cities. Carrying irritant sprays, such as pepper spray or Mace, is probably illegal in several jurisdictions. Even possessing irritant sprays at home is illegal in Massachusetts if you’re not a citizen.
Yet in most of these… Read More »
That some religious beliefs clash with the gay rights movement is undeniable. When these interests conflict in the form of litigation and both sides adopt the rhetoric of rights, the resulting rights clash challenges the United States legal system’s ability to come to a principled result. While the public views… Read More »
Reports of the death of Title VII’s disparate impact theory of discrimination in the wake of Ricci v. DeStefanomay be exaggerated. Widely praised and widely criticized in the newspapers and the blogosphere, Ricci is the latest, but not the last, chapter in a long-running feud between Congress and the Supreme Court regarding… Read More »
Is it constitutional for a state to issue a “Say Yes to Jesus” automobile license plate? May it refuse to issue an “Aryan Nation” license plate? May it deny a “pro-choice” license plate when it has allowed a “pro-life” one? Under current free speech jurisprudence, the answer depends on whether… Read More »
William A. Curran
- J.D. '09 New York University School of Law
By allowing the condemnation of private homes to make way for a “more attractive” private development, the U.S. Supreme Court in Kelo v. City of New London roused the fury of the libertarian legal academy and much of the public. In Kelo, the Court held that a plan for private economic… Read More »
Benjamin F. Heidlage
- Law Clerk to Judge Patrick Higginbotham
In 2006, Aaron Wisniewski, a middle school student at Weedsport Middle School in upstate New York, logged onto his home computer after school hours and sent his friends instant messages featuring a buddy icon depicting a gun shooting a cartoon individual and bearing the caption “Kill Mr. VanderMolen,” a teacher… Read More »
Joseph Blocher
- Duke University School of Law
Until very recently, Second Amendment scholarship has focused almost exclusively on the question of whether the amendment protects an “individual” right to bear arms unrelated to any militia service. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court answered this question in the affirmative for the first time. But operationalizing that… Read More »
When Rupert Murdoch launched his failed bid for Newsday last year at a price of $580 million consumer groups were up in arms. Common Cause assailed the proposed acquisition as “a step back that will hurt our democracy.” S. Derek Turner of Free Press charged, “New York, like the rest of… Read More »
Laura G. Dooley
- Valparaiso University School of Law
Procedural evolution in complex cases seems to have left the civil jury behind. The trend toward centralizing cases pending on the same topic in one court results in cases of national scope being tried by local juries; this reality is a catalyst for forum shopping and a frequent justification for… Read More »
Steven D. Smith
- University of San Diego School of Law
The American Constitution, we are told, is a “godless” document. More precisely, it is an agnostic document; it nowhere makes any reference, whether affirming or denying, to God. So what?
Some scholars see in this agnostic quality a constitutional mandate for governmental secularism; indeed, they may appeal directly to the agnostic… Read More »