Category: Constitutional Law
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A Look Back at Washington State’s Senate Bill (SB) 5843: Constitutional or Not?
By Alexandra Orbuch — Introduced by the Washington State legislature in January 2022, Senate Bill (SB) 5843 attempted to criminalize statements made by elected officials or candidates that: (a) Are intended to incite or produce imminent lawless action and do incite or produce such action resulting in harm to a person or to property; (b)…
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The Supreme Court’s Perversion of Property Rights
By Beck Reiferson — Political philosophers have long regarded the right to property as one of man’s most essential rights. John Locke, whose writings were among the most influential on the political thought of America’s Framers, believed the primary purpose of governments is to protect its citizens’ property rights. In his Two Treatises of Government,…
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When Two Worlds Collide: Evaluating Free Speech and National Security Claims around Trump’s WeChat Ban
By Nalin Ranjan — Immigrants have come a long way from hopelessly striving toward the 20th-century ideal of full assimilation into American society. Descendants of Jewish immigrants, whom many believed could not be trusted, can now proudly take credit for developments in the sciences, politics, medicine, and the arts; blossoming Chinatowns have replaced enclaves that…
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National Popular Vote: Circumventing the United States Constitution
By Alexandra Orbuch — In 2016, Donald Trump became President of the United States after winning a majority of electors (he won 304 electoral votes, surpassing the necessary 270 votes) but losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. For reference, the national popular vote is the direct vote of individual citizens. The electoral vote, on the…
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The Attractive Non-Sequitur of Democracy and Distrust
By JC Martinez — When it comes to interpreting the Constitution, there is a critical and possibly irresolvable dilemma which lies at the crux of countless arguments: should justices remain rigidly faithful to the original intent of the document’s writers at the risk of being anachronistic, or should they make substantive value choices at the…
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The U.S. Criminal Justice System Needs to Start Treating Children Like Children
By Bianca Ortiz-Miskimen — On any given day, tens of thousands of incarcerated children are forced to eat, sleep, and learn in juvenile detention centers and adult prisons across the United States. News stories of children being charged for harmless behaviors have become increasingly publicized, with examples ranging from not completing homework and participating in…
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Tyranny of the Minority: The Unconstitutionality of the Filibuster
By Madeleine Polubinski — In recent years, congressional gridlock has focused national attention on the Senate’s filibuster. The filibuster is the process by which a minority of senators delay or prevent a vote on legislation by speaking as long as possible on the Senate floor, until three-fifths of the Senate invoke cloture, which moves the…