Category: Constitutional Law
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Trading Away the Constitution? Presidential Overreach and the Misuse of Emergency Powers in Economic Policy
By Sidney Singer – Since 1976, the National Emergencies Act (NEA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) have provided U.S. presidents with expansive authority to respond to national crises. Intended as legislative guardrails to contain executive power, these…
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The Right to Death: How an Examination of Washington v. Glucksberg Reveals the Future of Fundamental Rights
By Jillian Ascher — As of 2024, 8,700 terminally ill Americans since 1997 have chosen death. In January 2024, terminally
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“A Long Step Down the Totalitarian Path” – Justice William O. Douglas: A Short Commentary on Stop-and-Frisk Practices
By Jaden Yun — In landmark case Terry v. Ohio (1968), Martin McFadden, a highly experienced Cleveland police detective dressed in plain clothes, flagged two individuals, Terry and Chilton, as suspicious after noticing that they were “pac[ing] alternately along an…
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Oklahoma’s Bible Controversy: Unpacking the Legality of the Bible Education Mandate
By Elaine Gao —- In the summer of 2024, the state of Oklahoma was torn apart not by the upcoming University of Oklahoma v. Oklahoma State University game but by state superintendent Ryan Walters’s bold
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When Hate TRUMPs Precedent: A Reexamination of Plyler v. Doe in the Face of Tennessee’s Proposed Immigration Policies
By Anita Miller — As American lawmakers grapple with the ever-contentious subject of immigration, new policies addressing educational access for undocumented immigrants continue to be put forth. One notable piece of propose
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ShotSpotter’s Live Gunshot Detection System Violates New Jersey’s Stop and Frisk Laws
By Aina Marzia — In September 2024, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) removed over 2,000 live gunshot alert systems from ShotSpotter (later renamed to SoundThinking). For the first time in six years, no live sound feed was being s
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Are We All Americans?: Elk v. Wilkins and Native American Citizenship Before, During, and After Reconstruction
By Carolina Pardo — When Robert E. Lee went to negotiate his terms of surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865, he stopped at the sight of a brown man amongst the Union generals. Everyone held their breath…
