Category: US Constitution

In Michigan v. Environmental Protection Agency, 576 U.S. (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an EPA rule regulating the emissions of mercury and other chemicals from electric power plants. By a vote of 5-4, the majority held that the EPA int...

On June 22, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a City of Los Angeles ordinance that required hotel operators to allow law enforcement to inspect guest registries without obtaining a warrant. The 5-4 majority in City of Los Angeles v. Patel, 57...

Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 U.S. 419 (1793) is one of the first important decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, however, is not widely known or studied in constitutional law classes because its main holding, which abrogated state sover...

The U.S. Supreme Court first reviewed the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in the Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1873). In a 5-4 decision, the majority adopted a narrow construction of the Amendment’s Privileges and Immuniti...

In the NSA privacy debate leading up to the expiration of several key provisions of the Patriot Act, an overturned U.S. Supreme Court case popped up more than once. The decision in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928) highlights that while...

The “Speech or Debate Clause” provides powerful protection to members of Congress and prohibits the Executive Branch from prosecuting those with whom it does not agree. One of the first cases to interpret the Speech or Debate Clause is United St...

Nebraska and Oklahoma are asking the Supreme Court to declare that Colorado violated the U.S. Constitution when it legalized marijuana. The suit, which evokes the Court’s original jurisdiction over disputes between states, specifically alleges t...

Presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama have issued executive orders to help facilitate the management of the country. Because such actions are often not expressly authorized by statute, but rather derived from the President’s executive p...

Religion is set to reclaim center stage when the U.S. Supreme Court’s new term begins this fall. One of the cases to watch is Reed v. Town of Gilbert. The case involves whether an Arizona town’s sign ordinance violates the First Amendment by rest...

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider an important Fourth Amendment case involving a police officer’s mistake of law. Given that law enforcement is not infallible, the decision in Heien v. North Carolina could have significant consequences....