Category Judiciary
Chief Justice Roberts and Original Spelling(e)
Patent exhaustion reached the SCOTUS docket last year, in the form of Impression Products v. Lexmark International. Handing down its 8-0 opinion this Tuesday (7-1 when counting RBG’s partial dissent from the resolution of the cross-border question) the Court delivered—in Ronald Mann’s words—a judgment “full of quotable maxims certain to populate the U.S. Reports for […]
The Privilege or Immunities Clause, Originalism, and Gender Equality
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States . . . . U.S. Const., amend. XIV In 1873, in The Slaughter-House Cases and Bradwell v. Illinois, the Supreme Court took a sledgehammer to the idea that the Privileges or Immunities Clause of […]
Federalism 2: The Revenge
In 1993, Congress passed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. Among its various initiatives, it provided for the creation of a national background check system by which to screen prospective gun purchasers. This created a dilemma, however: the United States is a mess of separate and overlapping jurisdictions, and most crime is dealt with at […]
David Hume, Rubber Stamps, and Cognitive Inequality
[Today we welcome our colleague Reilly Stephens as our newest contributor here at LDB. Our agreement with him states that he will be providing insight and analysis of law, politics, and whatever else we demand, except for modern interpretive dance and ERISA, about which he knows nothing…he was particular about those last two for some […]
Judge Gorsuch on the Ninth Amendment: “I think it means what it says.”
Senator Sasse has never ceases to impress me – his impressive knowledge of law (despite not being a lawyer himself), his deep understanding and love for philosophy and political theory, or his principled resistance to partisanship are among the many reasons I hope this guy continues doing what he does. He’s done it again by […]
The Dangers of Democracy: Human Rights and Majoritarianism
Introduction Last week, on December 15, we celebrated the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. While many Americans find good reason to celebrate the first ten amendments to the Constitution, not as many pause to appreciate that it is the amendments’ anti-democratic character that makes them so effective. Democracy, after all, […]
Originalism Bootcamp at Georgetown’s Center for the Constitution
Georgetown Center for the Constitution’s Originalism Bootcamp is now accepting applications.
Excerpts from Sen. Sasse’s Speech to the Federalist Society
Senator Ben Sasse delivered an excellent speech at the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention. Here are some of my favorite quotes.
Least Dangerous Blog 