Explainer: Supreme Court Prepares for Oral Arguments in Latest Reproductive Rights Case
The US Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday in a case concerning the authorization and regulation of the abortion pill mifepristone at a time when reproductive rights are at the heart of political division and changing policies across the nation. At the center of the case is the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine’s lawsuit against the Food [...]
Federal judge rejects Trump motion to dismiss charges in classified documents case
The US federal judge overseeing former president Donald Trump’s criminal case regarding his allegedly wrongful detention of classified documents rejected the former president’s motion to dismiss on Thursday in a short, two-page order. Trump sought to dismiss 32 of the 40 pending criminal charges against him in the case. However, Judge Aileen Cannon denied Trump’s [...]
Marissa Zupancic is JURIST’s Washington DC Correspondent, a JURIST Senior Editor, and a 3L at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She’s stationed in Washington during her Semester in DC. On Thursday, Februrary 8, I sat in the courtroom of the Supreme Court of the United States on assignment for JURIST to hear oral [...]
Explainer: The Expulsion of Representative George Santos Under US Law
Representative George Santos is the third member of the House of Representatives since the Civil War to be expelled and the first in United States history to be removed before being convicted by the Judiciary. It is significant to recognize that how it internally operates and disciplines its members, including expulsion, is beyond the general [...]
US appeals court throws out Mississippi Jim Crow era felon disenfranchisement law
The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that an 1890 state constitutional provision permanently preventing people convicted of certain felonies from voting, Section 241, is unconstitutional. Judge James Dennis writing for the majority, discussed the racial history of the Mississippi Constitution that was ratified in 1890, writing, “From the outset, the object of [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on Wednesday that the family of Jamal Ali Shaw, who died after being tased by police in jail while having a seizure, can sue the officers over Shaw’s death. The case is an appeal from the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas. [...]
Beyond the Declaration of Independence: Of Wisdom, Virtue, and Principles of Government
The great end of government and laws is human happiness; the rulers ought, therefore, to understand and know on what it consists; and the means of producing it. — Hon. Jesse Root, “On the Principles and End of Government” The summer of 1776 was quite productive in the annals of American intellectual and legal thought. [...]
The House Ethics Committee announced Friday that it has launched an investigation into U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz’s alleged misconduct, including accusations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. In its press release, the House Ethics Committee stated, “the Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct [...]
The nation has watched aghast as, over and over again, police have killed or maimed unarmed persons of color. Each time, the police have acted with impunity under a quiescent criminal justice system. The charges filed against officers involved in the death of George Floyd are the exception, not the rule, and the charges just [...]
A three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a decision Monday to keep oil companies from moving lawsuits that blame them for coastal wetlands loss in Louisiana to federal court. In 1972 Congress enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act, which led Louisiana to enact the Louisiana State and Local [...]
