amendment.
Prosecution for Telling Police Officers “You Have to Clean Your Damn Dirty Car” Rejected on First Amendment Grounds
(Eugene Volokh) This happened in a trial court decision in State v. Elabanjo (N.C. Super. Ct. Jan. 5); the defendant was prosecuted under N.C. Gen. Stat. &sec; 14–197, which makes it a misdemeanor to “on any public road or highway and in the hearing of two or more persons, in a loud and boisterous manner, […]
Jim Ho on the Fourteenth Amendment and Children of Illegal (and Legal) Aliens
(Eugene Volokh) Jim is a very smart guy, as well as a pretty solid conservative (he clerked for Justice Thomas, and was until recently the State Solicitor of Texas), and he has actually studied the subject closely; so I thought I’d reprint (with permission) his Wall Street Journal op-ed from yesterday, which argues that the […]
Highest Court in D.C. Allows Second Amendment Challenges to Long-Ago Convictions for Violating D.C. Handgun Ban
(Eugene Volokh) Magnus v. U.S., decided today, concludes that a defendant who pled guilty in 1996 to violating D.C. handgun ban can now have that plea set aside given D.C. v. Heller, assuming his conduct was indeed protected by the Second Amendment (and didn’t, for instance, involve the possession of a gun to facilitate an […]
Who Will Read the 16th Amendment?
Jonathan Allen notes House Republicans “have settled on a way to read the Constitution on the floor today without the spectacle of repeating passages such as ‘Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding […]
District Court Upholds Stolen Valor Act Again First Amendment Challenge
(Eugene Volokh) This happened in Monday’s United States v. Robbins (W.D. Va.); the court disagreed with the district court in Strandlof and the Ninth Circuit panel in Alvarez, which held that the statute violates the First Amendment. I think the Act, which criminalizes certain knowingly false claims of having received a military honor, is constitutional, […]
14th Amendment History
A legitimate professional historian writes: It’s not even clear Scalia has the legislative history of the 14th Amendment right. Rep. Benjamin Butler was present at the creation, and he believed the 14th Am. had the potential to guarantee equal protection for female citizens. Same with Chief Justice Salmon Chase, who affirmed a woman’s equal right […]
Women, the 14th Amendment, and the Ambiguity of Intent
Via a justly outraged Kay Steiger, it seems that Antonin Scalia was recently asked his views on whether women deserve the equal protection of the law: In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don’t think anybody would have thought that equal protection applied to sex discrimination, or […]
VIDEO FLASHBACK: GOP Demanded Open Amendment Process Before Voting On Health Reform
After winning the House in the November midterms, Republicans — who have long complained about Democratic stewardship of the lower chamber — promised to run the House in an open and transparent process, allowing the minority party to offer amendments on legislation and permitting time for fair debate. But as Democrats now prepare to offer […]
VIDEO FLASHBACK: GOP Demanded Open Amendment Process Before Voting On Health Reform
After winning the House in the November midterms, Republicans — who have long complained about Democratic stewardship of the lower chamber — promised to run the House in an open and transparent process, allowing the minority party to offer amendments on legislation and permitting time for fair debate. But as Democrats now prepare to offer […]
More Talk of 14th Amendment Reform
Via The Lookout: 14 states may target birthright citizenship Arizona state politicians will introduce model legislation this week to encourage states to prevent children of illegal immigrants from being granted citizenship under the 14th Amendment. […] Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce will unveil the bill Jan. 5 in Washington, D.C., the Arizona Capital Times reports. […]
First Amendment Exception for “Racially Hostile or Contemptuous Speech” — Including Display of the Confederate Flag — in K-12 Public Schools?
(Eugene Volokh) So a two-judge majority on a Sixth Circuit panel held in Defoe v. Spiva held, arguing that: A public high school that can put reasonable limits on drug-related speech by students [referring to Morse v. Frederick, which upheld such restrictions –EV] can put reasonable and even-handed limits on racially hostile or contemptuous speech, […]
DC Examiner Endorses Repeal Amendment
(Randy Barnett) I awoke this morning expecting to find my new Washington Examiner op-ed, Who’s Afraid of the Repeal Amendment, in which I respond to criticisms of the proposal by Dana Milbank, Dahlia Lithwick & Jeff Shesol, and the New York Times — all in the mandatory 600 words. (I will be offering an expanded […]
The Jackson-Vanik Amendment and Jewish Emigration from the USSR
(Ilya Somin) I agree with most of what co-blogger Sasha Volokh says in his post on Gal Beckerman’s important new book on the political struggle over Jewish emigration from the USSR. For example, it is indeed true (and in retrospect, very interesting) that the campaign united many ideologically disparate groups in the US. When I worked […]
Wikileaks, The Pentagon Papers, And The First Amendment
Veteran First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, who argued the Pentagon Papers case before the Supreme Court in 1971, had an interesting column this week in The Wall Street Journal arguing that the ongoing Wikileaks story is not at all like the case he was involved in 40 years ago: In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg decided to […]
