He asked: Will Warren be invited to the solemn ceremony of inauguration without being asked to repudiate what he has directly said to deny salvation to Jews? Will he be giving a national invocation without disowning what his ment…
People keep emailing me the link to this NPR report on a speech that Sandra Day O'Connor gave at Georgetown the other day. I assumed I would blog about this speech yesterday after some of my students brought it up. So let m…
Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case about the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which makes it a crime to kill when the "entire fetal head" or "any part of the fetal trunk past the navel&quo…
Today, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case about government displays of the Ten Commandments. Linda Greenhouse has a nicely detailed account in the NYT. She highlights Justice Scalia's role: Justice David H. So…
Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority in Roper v. Simmons , justifies the use of "international opinion" in constitutional decisionmaking: It is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of international op…
I'm glad to see that the Supreme Court has taken cert in the assisted suicide case: The Oregon law was intended to help adults with incurable diseases who are likely to die in six months. They can obtain lethal drugs from th…
The first report looks good for the federal government on this, as Justice Souter seems dubious about the plaintiffs' argument: Backers of California's law seem to think "everybody is going to get it from a friend o…
As noted below, the main opinion in Newdow does not address the Establishment Clause question. The three concurring opinions do, however, and all find the Pledge, with the "under God" language, constitutional. The thre…
Justice Stevens' opinion in Newdow contains a very interesting issue about the use of state law--family law--to determine the scope of standing to sue in federal court. Why should the states be able to determine the power of…
So writes Justice O'Connor , concurring and providing the fifth vote, in today's Supreme Court opinion, Yarborough v. Alvarado. The Court leaves in place a state court conviction and reverses the opinion of the Ninth Circ…
Today, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Oregon v. Ashcroft rejecting the "Ashcroft Directive," the Attorney General's position that a doctor using a controlled substance to assist a suicide violates the feder…
Dahlia Lithwick witnesses a luncheon appearance by Justice O'Connor and observes, "she seems to have no idea how extraordinary she is." Oh, the key word there must be "seems." Modesty is a virtue. And goo…