Month: June 2013

While the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to release its most highly anticipated opinions, there has been no shortage of controversy. In Salinas v. Texas, the justices raised the bar for criminal suspects seeking to invoke their constitutional right to r...

While it might seem strange to discuss the patentability of DNA on a constitutional law blog, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. can be traced back to the founding fathers. While they l...

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to issue groundbreaking opinions over the next few weeks on issues from same-sex marriage to affirmative action. While casual observers will tune in to the evening news to learn about the decisions, those who are “i...

A mouth swab will soon be as common as a mug shot. In a controversial 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that taking a DNA sample during police booking for serious offenses is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court’s DNA ...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently confirmed that innocence matters in criminal court. While the notion may seem quite obvious, the Court has never found that a prisoner is entitled to habeas relief based on a freestanding actual-innocence claim. Rather...