Najah Farley Last week, SCOTUS agreed to hear the Department of Justice challenge to SB 1070, Arizona’s comprehensive immigration law. According to commentators, it is likely that the government could be successful in challenging the immigration law, especially with regard to the challenged provisions of SB 1070 which require state law enforcement officials to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop and require that law enforcement officials determine the immigration status of …
Conversations with the Courts: Is Newt Gringrich Right?…(but for the Wrong Reasons)
Peter Dunne In recent weeks, much has been made of the various attacks GOP presidential candidates have launched upon the federal judiciary. Term limits, Senate hearings and even impeachment have all been touted as possible methods to reign in our supposedly “out of control” courts system. The movement to curb judicial power currently has no greater champion than Newt Gringrich. Riding high in the polls, Mr. Gringrich seeks not so much to restrict the power of judges as to simply ignore it. He …
11th Circuit Decision is a Landmark for LGBT Workplace Rights — And Shows That Equal Protection Sex Discrimination Doctrine is Still Alive and Well
Anne King As Peter Dunne pointed out in his post last week, December 2011 has seen several significant milestones for LGBT rights, both in the US and internationally. Count among those events the December 6 opinion by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Glenn v. Brumby, which held that discriminating against someone on the basis of his or her gender non-conformity is sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Vandiver Glenn was a state government employee …
Strange Developments in Manning Trial
Marshall Thompson The trial of Bradley Manning continues after taking a few sensational turns last week. We discussed on this blog a few months ago how Manning’s charges for allegedly leaking classified information to Wikileaks could amount to capital punishment, so the stakes could not be higher. The first surprise was that Manning was transgender. The stress for a U.S. soldier who was either gay or transgender under the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy would have been intense. Some experts say …
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Court finally says ‘boy’ comments are racist
Billy Corriher The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals finally recognized that a supervisor’s use of the word ‘boy’ to refer to black employees is sufficient evidence of racism. It was the third time the court ruled on the case since a reprimand from the Supreme Court for finding that ‘boy’ was not evidence of discrimination. Last week’s ruling overturned a three-judge panel’s 2010 decision rejecting the evidence as insufficient, even under the Court’s guidance: “Although . . . The disputed …
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In Defense of Clarence Thomas
David Yin I recently asked my Facebook network which Supreme Court justice, modern or historical, would they elect to partner with on a Constitutional Law final exam, assuming the justice had taken the class with them that semester. John Marshall, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Robert Jackson, and William Brennan were predictable choices as powerful writers and influential molders of constitutional thought. Scalia, well-known for his bombastic style yet clear exposition of facts and law, was …