Month: February 2016

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court added another potential blockbuster case to the current Term. In United States v. Texas, the justices will consider whether President Obama’s use of executive action to further his immigration policy violated the ...

In Livingston v. Van Ingen, 9 Johns. R. 507 N.Y. 1812, the New York Court for the Correction of Errors upheld a New York statute authorizing a monopoly on steam boat transportation in New York waters. The appeals court decision, which was later n...

The U.S. Supreme Court returns from recess on February 22, 2016 without Justice Antonin Scalia. Below is a brief summary of the Supreme Court’s Case Docket that the Eight justices will consider this month.   Kingdomware Technologies, In...

Both Professors Larry Tribe and Thomas Lee are playing a game of “gotcha” with Ted Cruz when it comes to defining “natural born citizen” under the Presidential Eligibility Clause. Yet, neither are very convincing in their arguments that, base...

In Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a New York law that established maximum working hours for bakers. According to the majority, the right to buy and sell labor was a liberty interest protected under the...

In Kansas v. Carr, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of jury instructions used in two Kansas capital murder cases. The justices ruled that the Eighth Amendment does not mandate that courts instruct ...

In Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197 (1904), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a holding company formed to create a railroad monopoly violated the Sherman Antitrust Law. The government’s victory in the case helped solidify P...

In Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court addressed how state courts should apply its decision in Miller v. Alabama, in which the Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits a sentencing scheme that requires life in...

In Pollock v. Farmers Loan & Trust Co., 157 U.S. 429 (1895), the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal taxes on interest, dividends and rents violated Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. In 1913, the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment nullifi...