Tag: First Amendment

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 Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U.S. 209 (1977), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not prohibit governments from requiring non-union public employees to pay their “fair share” of dues f...

In Kerry v. Din, 135 S.Ct. 2128 (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal government did not violate the Due Process rights of the petitioner when it denied her husband’s visa based on his alleged engagement in terrorist activities, with...

In Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Wisconsin law mandating that children attend school violated the First Amendment. In the landmark decision, the unanimous Court held that the parents’ Freedom of Religio...

In United States v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a federal law that made burning or otherwise destroying draft cards a crime. In so ruling, the Court established a test for determining whether l...

In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, 564 US 08-1448 (2011), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The...

In Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723 (2008), the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the rights of foreign citizens detained at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. By a vote of 5-4, the Court held that in Boumediene v. Bush the detainees ha...

The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) kicked off its new term on October 5, 2015 and filled about 2/3 of its docket. In total, SCOTUS  granted certiorari in thirteen new cases during its September 28 long conference, bringing the docket to 47.  Last term th...

In Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1(1976), the U.S. Supreme Court held that while campaign contribution limits implicate First Amendment interests, they withstand constitutional scrutiny so long as they are closely drawn to serve a sufficiently impor...

In Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy 6 U.S.64, 2 L.Ed.208 (1804), Chief Justice John Marshall stated that “an act of Congress ought never to be construed to violate the law of nations if any other possible construction remains.” This early Su...