Category: US Constitution

In 1913, the states ratified the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to require the direct election of senators by the citizens of the United States.    When drafting the U.S. Constitution, the framers intended that the states ...

In V.L. v. E.L, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the State of Alabama must recognize an adoption by a same-sex parent that occurred in another state. The Court’s per curium decision rested on the Constitution’s ...

In Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U.S. 375 (1905), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Congress was authorized under the Constitution to regulate local business activities that were part of the "stream of commerce" between states. The ruling a...

On March 7, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court held that for purposes of diversity jurisdiction, the citizenship of an unincorporated entity, such as a real estate investment trust, depends on the citizenship of all of its members. The decision in Americol...

On March 1, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) pre-empts a Vermont law requiring certain entities, including health insurers, to report payments relating to health care claims to a state agency ...

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in several potential blockbuster cases this month. Topics on the agenda include restrictions of abortion, the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, and racial gerrymandering. Of course, e...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

On January 12, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida’s capital-sentencing scheme in Hurst v. Florida, 577 U. S. (2016). By a vote of 8-1, the justices held that allowing the trial judge to have the final say on a death sentence violated ...