The reasoning behind Judge Rolf Treu’s decision is based on the faulty assumption that if you treat everyone equally, then everyone is equal.
Scott Lemieux
Scott Lemieux is a political science professor at the University of Washington. He writes for the blog Lawyers, Guns & Money. Follow @lemieuxlgm
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Supreme Court and the Power to Make Treaties
Given the ongoing Republican assault on essential federal powers, It is generally not good news when the Supreme Court narrowly construes a federal statute in deference to state authority. Monday’s ruling in Bond v. U.S., however, is an exception. A majority of the Court refused to accept conservative arguments that would severely limit the power […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Supreme Court Decides: What is ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment’?
In the 2002 case Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled that executing the mentally impaired violated the Eight Amendment’s prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishments.” Atkins, however, did not define what constituted mental impairment, which gave states a potentiallyeasyway”>potentially easy way of evading the opinion. If left alone to determine their own standards, states […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Michael Boggs, an Unacceptable Judicial Nominee
However horrible Boggs is, the primary villains here, as is so often the case, reside in the World’s Worst Deliberative Body.
Posted inLaw and Justice
Supreme Court: Tear Down This Wall!
Yesterday’s ruling in Greece v. Galloway is an affront to religious equality, but it also reflects the poisoned fruit of a bad precedent.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Will the Fourth Amendment Go Mobile? SCOTUS and the Fate of 21st Century Privacy
If the Supreme Court upholds a police officer’s right to search your smartphone without a warrant, the door is opened to the use of arrests on petty offenses to justify fishing expeditions of those computers we carry in our pockets.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Justice Sotomayor’s Powerful Defense of Equality
At heart, the dissenters in Schuette v. BAMN argue, a Michigan amendment outlawing affirmative action deprives minorities access to the political process.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
How John Paul Stevens Would Amend the Constitution
The former Supreme Court justice has some suggestions for a better democracy in his new book.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Roberts Court: Government Must Be By, and For, the Wealthy
Everyone who thinks that the rich don’t have enough influence on American politics can rest easier. In an expected but still depressing decision today, the Supreme Court struck down aggregate limits on how much an individual can donate to politicians and political parties within a 2-year window as a violation of the First Amendment. Having […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Federal Court Upholds Texas’s War On Roe v. Wade
The restrictive abortion law that rocketed Wendy Davis to fame is making its way through the courts—and it could be upheld at the highest one.