Category: Constitutional Law
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What Constitutes a Human life?: Religious Language in Alabama’s Abortion Ruling
By Rida Mian — On February 16, 2024, the Supreme Court of Alabama released the controversial ruling that an extrauterine embryo is considered a person in the context of the law. The ruling came from an appeals case in which…
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Originalism and Jury Nullification in America: A Legal Basis for the Restoration of a Lost Right
By Lawson Wright — A peal of alarm bells shattered the brisk yet tranquil Saturday morning in Boston on February 15, 1851. A mob had stormed the local courthouse in an effort to rescue fugitive slave Shadrach Minkins from being…
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Protecting the First Amendment in Stopping Cop City: Unconstitutional Overbreadth in Georgia’s RICO Laws
By James Swinehart — In March 2021, then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms alongside the Atlanta Police Foundation announced plans to build the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center—a massive $90 million police training facility boasting shooting ranges, explosives testing grounds, and…
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Sweet Home Alabama: Navigating Home Rule Status Through State Federalism
By Justin Murdock — In the intricate mosaic of Alabama’s municipal governance, the echoes of the 1901 Constitution, etched in the tumultuous Jim Crow era, still reverberate through the corridors of legal power. This article navigates the complexities of the…
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The First Amendment and the Abortion Rights Debate
By Sofia Cipriano — Following Dobbs v. Jackson’s (2022) reversal of Roe v. Wade (1973) — and the subsequent revocation of federal abortion protection — activists and scholars have begun to reconsider how to best ground abortion rights in the…
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FISA and the USA PATRIOT Act: Reforms and Legal Implications
By Lizzie Evanko — Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in 1978, in an effort to establish a legal framework for the physical and electronic surveillance of foreign entities. FISA allowed the federal government to collect intelligence on…
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Affirmative Action’s Strict Scrutiny Revisited: Creating Meaningful Compelling Interests
By David Chau — The current national fabric of the United States is a colorful one. However, to reach that level of inclusivity, it took mass grievances demanding change and slow government acquiescence, creating a more equal, equitable representation in…
