Tenure of Office and the Treasury: The Constitution and Control over National Financial Policy, 1787 to 1897
Aditya Bamzai 87 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1299 The disputed scope of the President’s authority to remove subordinates in the executive branch, and to direct them in the performance of their functions, is one of the central issues of federal constitutional law. On the one hand, some argue that Article II gives the President such... Read More
On the Docket’s Preview of the May Supreme Court Arguments
This month’s oral arguments are truly historic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court will not be meeting in person, but rather hearing arguments remotely via telephone, where the Justices will ask questions in order of seniority. Most intriguing, this month’s arguments will be available for live streaming—an unprecedented move by the Court as it... Read More
RNC v. DNC: Absentee Voters and the Partisan Pandemic
As it happened, the election results, when released April 13, surprised most observers. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court’s decision in RNC v. DNC is, to put it politely, paradoxical.
Kansas v. Glover: Just Common Sense?
We have no idea why Officer Mehrer decided to check on Glover’s license plate. Might it matter after all? Can a jurisdiction instruct its officers to run the license plate of every automobile they come across and to assume that any owner whose license has been suspended or revoked should be stopped to see if the owner is driving? What is the common-sense answer?
It Could Have Been Worse, But a Statute Designed to “Break Down All Discrimination” Against African Americans Deserves Better than Comcast Corporation v. National Association of African American-Owned Media
The year after the Civil War, the federal government made a commitment to Black people in this country. In simple but sweeping language, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 mandates that “[a]ll persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the same right . . . to make and enforce contracts . . . as is enjoyed by white citizens.”
Allen v. Cooper: States Stay Copyright Pirates
“Who are today’s pirates?”
The Concession that Dooms Originalism: A Response to Professor Lawrence Solum
Professor Eric J. Segall · April 2020 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 33 This essay responds to a recent article by Professor Lawrence Solum in the Northwestern University Law Review, which describes alleged differences between Originalism and Living Constitutionalism. This paper argues that even under Solum’s own criteria there is no meaningful difference between these... Read More
Patent Law 101: The View from the Bench
Professor Matthew G. Sipe · April 2020 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 21 On April 17th, 2019, Senators Tillis (R-NC) and Coons (D-DE), along with Representatives Collins (R-GA), Johnson (D-GA), and Stivers (R-OH), released a draft of proposed reforms to § 101 of the patent statute—the provision governing subject-matter eligibility—citing, among other reasons, the complexities and... Read More
Kahler v. Kansas: Narrowing the Insanity Defense
Could a state now abolish both prongs of the M’Naghten standard (or any variants thereof)? Could a state reject any formulation of an insanity defense and bar evidence of insanity at trial entirely?
Equality Is a Brokered Idea
Professor Robert Tsai · March 2020 88 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 1 This essay examines the Supreme Court’s stunning decision in the census case, Department of Commerce v. New York. Professor Robert Tsai characterizes Chief Justice John Roberts’s decision to side with the liberals as a collective effort to pursue the ends of equality by... Read More