Month: December 2019

In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC, 565 U.S. 171 (2012), the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the ministerial exception for the first time. The First Amendment doctrine precludes the application of employment-di...

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to wade into the battle over access to President Donald Trump’s financial documents. While the cases arise out of a partisan political dispute, they also involve significant issues of constitutional law. In a ...

In Locke v. Davey, 540 U.S. 712 (2004), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a State of Washington’s scholarship aid program, which excluded students pursuing a "degree in devotional theology," did not run afoul of the First Amendment to the U.S. Cons...

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in five cases last week. The cases involved diverse areas of law ranging from intellectual property to immigration. However, a similar question united many of the cases — the extent of judicial review ov...

In Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347 (1976), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the practice of dismissing public employees for partisan reasons runs afoul of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Facts of the Case Several Republican non-civil se...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, New York. The case, which involves a constitutional challenge to a New York City ordinance that banned transporting a lic...

In Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886), the U.S. Supreme Court first considered the Second Amendment. It held that the Second Amendment prevented the states from “prohibit[ing] the people from keeping and bearing arms, so as to deprive the ...

In Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109 (1959), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the House Committee on Un-American Activities did not violate the First Amendment in investing Lloyd Barenblatt's affiliations with the Communist Party. Accordingl...

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted President Donald Trump’s request for a stay in Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP. The Court’s order halts the enforcement of a Congressional subpoena seeking the President’s financial records pending resolution of his...