Category: Constitutional Law
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Schoolhouse Rocked: State-Created Dangers and Substantive Due Process
By Tarun Iyengar — On April 17th, 2024, a student, using a stainless steel Stanley cup, brutally struck a classmate in front of a crowded lunchroom at Pennbrook Middle School in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The victim of this attack…
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The Court as Historian: Washington v. Glucksberg and the Right to Die
By Bryson Jeppesen — In 1997, Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist proclaimed in the Court’s Washington v. Glucksberg majority opinion that “[t]he Court’s established method of substantive-due-process analysis has two primary features: First, … the Clause specially protects…
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Tariff Wars—And Who Gets to Declare Them
By Grace Im — When a president can unilaterally reprice nearly every imported good in the United States with a stroke of the pen, the line between emergency management and ordinary governance begins to disappear. In a political atmosphere that…
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The Erosion of Smith: Mahmoud v. Taylor and its Implications for the Free Exercise Clause
By Daeun Kim — Mahmoud v. Taylor marks a significant erosion of Employment Division v. Smith and signals a doctrinal shift toward revitalized, pre-Smith Free Exercise protections. By relying on Wisconsin v. Yoder rather than Smith, the Court reframed parental…
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Beauty, Decency, and the Constitution: Analyzing the Constitutionality of Federal Funding of the Arts in National Endowment of the Arts v. Finley
By Sophia Zuo — Upon examining the recent headlines covering the current Trump Administration, the arts emerge as a surprising topic of intense presidential interest. President Trump has been vocal in his efforts to eradicate major federal programs such as…
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Silencing the Skies: The Attack on Journalistic Drone Rights
By Jaylee Witcher — Amid his revitalized campaign of immigration enforcement, Donald Trump has intensified pressure on the actors he views as obstructing his agenda: Democratic-led cities. One of the most prominent targets is Chicago, where Mayor Brandon Johnson’s immigration…
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Is being homeless a choice?: Status vs. conduct in Grants Pass v. Johnson?
By Jillian Ascher — During the 2023-2024 Supreme Court cycle, amid a docket full of other high profile court cases, like Loper Bright v. Raimondo and Trump v. United States, a ruling that should’ve been reported on in the news…
