Commentaries by William G. Ross

Court packing, an idea that seemed forever discredited for 80 years after President Franklin Roosevelt’s notorious plan went down in flames in 1937, is back on the table. President Biden has appointed a commission to study the possibility of increasing the number of U.S. Supreme Court Justices, a response to calls from various Democrats to [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court last week issued its first ruling against coronavirus containment measures, invoking the First Amendment’s guarantee of free exercise of religion to enjoin an executive order by New York’s governor limiting attendance at religious services to 10 or 25 persons in areas classified as having a high risk for infections. The Court’s [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court has emerged as a significant election issue for the first time in more than fifty years. The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett has riveted the nation’s attention on the Court in a way that rarely if ever has occurred during a presidential campaign. [...]

The tumultuous controversy about whether President Trump and the Senate should try to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat before the upcoming election presents high stake political and constitutional risks for both Republicans and Democrats. It also presents risks for long-term public confidence in the integrity of the Supreme Court. Republicans can hardly [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist William G. Ross of Samford University's Cumberland School of Law discusses the constitutional legacy of the First World War... American entry into the First World War one hundred years ago, on April 6, 1917, generated significant constitutional...

JURIST Guest Columnist William G. Ross of Samford University's Cumberland School of Law discusses the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch... Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's US Supreme Court nominee, deserves full and fair consideration by Senate Democrats, even...

JURIST Guest Columnist William G. Ross of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University discusses the role of the Senate in the confirmation of executive nominees under the new administration... Controversies involving many of the persons nominated by President...

JURIST Guest Columnist William G. Ross of Samford University's Cumberland School of Law discusses reform of the electoral college system...Hillary Rodham Clinton's victory over Donald J. Trump in the popular vote this presidential election has revived perennial proposals for the...

JURIST Contributing Editor William G. Ross of the Cumberland School of Law discusses the implications that the choice to vote for either presidential candidate in this upcoming election will have in the Supreme Court... Since this year's presidential election is...

JURIST Contributing Editor William G. Ross of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University discusses Justice Ruth B. Ginsburg's open public opinion concerning Trumps' candidacy for presidency... Since justices during recent years have been increasingly uninhibited about making extrajudicial...