Illustrations by Louise McCune As Americans, there are certain ideals for which we stand, such as freedom, liberty, and justice. Instilled deep within our hearts, these values must be protected by Americans from government intrusion. The Supreme Court, protecting the liberties guaranteed in the Constitution, has ruled that religious institutions “act as critical buffers between the individual and the power of the State,” serving as...
On June 28, the Supreme Court released its most anticipated decision since Bush v. Gore in 2000. The Roberts Court has been depicted as a bulwark of conservatism. However, the recent decision complicates these allegations. It was no surprise that the vote of the Court in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius would be 5 to 4. Yet the “swing vote” came as a surprise. Chief Justice John Roberts joined Justices Breyer, Ginsberg, K...
The preservation of most of Obamacare by the Supreme Court was originally seen as a monumental victory for the Obama administration and one that would surely help the incumbent president on the campaign trail. However, the way that the Court saved the law (they declared that the “individual mandate” was a tax rather than a penalty and therefore was within Congress’ constitutional authority) has caused Obama’s signature domestic achievement to b...
photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons This is the first in a four-part series on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. “Can the government make you buy cell phones?” The question Chief Justice Roberts asked during oral arguments over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is at the heart of fears spurred by many who oppose the bill. Those who favor repeal of the landmark health care and health insurance reform bill, espe...
Although war with Iraq has seized the international spotlight, the Senate’s battles over judicial nominees recently put the chamber at the center of national politics. In February, when Senate Democrats began a filibuster opposing the confirmation of Miguel Estrada to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in D.C., the Senate seemed transported back to a time when it was dominated not only by fierce policy wars, but by strategic parliamentary maneuv...
...ossible. In the case United States v. 1982 Ford Pick-Up, (6th Cir. 1989), two pick-up trucks were seized after the immigration officer believed that the trucks were transporting illegal immigrants. The owners’ argument before court was that the immigration officer did not have sufficient probable cause to stop the trucks. In the court’s majority opinion, Boyce F. Martin Jr. ultimately ruled that there was sufficient cause for the stop because “ap...
photo of the US Supreme Court from Wikimedia Commons On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld President Obama’s health care law, the Affordable Care Act, in a 5-4 vote with Chief Justice Roberts casting the deciding vote. This highly anticipated event does not fix all the problems with the American health care system or even with the Affordable Care Act, but it does provide some certainty and direction. This decision affi...
Photo from C-SPAN3 In his notable dissent in Ligget Co. v Lee (1933), Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis noted that corporations “have brought such concentration of economic power that so-called private corporations are sometimes able to dominate the state.” What Brandeis observed in the twentieth century has again become a threat today. Not since the Gilded Age has money in politics become such a corrosive problem. Through the Supreme Court’...
Illustration by Kaela Chambers In 2010, the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission held that corporations and unions could not be prohibited from broadcasting electioneering communications (ads that mention a candidate) within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary, which had previously been the restriction of the McCain-Feingold Act since 2002. What does this mean for the way campaigns and policymaking a...
Marissa Tjartjalis “The problem is that in Brazil you don’t convict. I’ve been in court for seven years, yet this is the second time we attempt to reach conviction. This course of action is still very novel to me and to other judges.” Judge Joaquim Barbosa is unhappy with his court’s conviction rate. He is closer to the rule than to the exception in a region that has suffered from a tainted judicial system since the establishment of its first i...
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