Law & Government
‘Refuse illegal orders’ cuts both ways for Democrats
I favor government employees defying orders and sabotaging the instruments of the state as much as the next libertarian (well, maybe a little more). But I suspect the Democratic lawmakers urging members of the military and…
The Supreme Court’s next big immigration case
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to reenter the fractious national debate over immigration by taking up a new case, which asks whether asylum seekers who present themselves at the U.S. border may be lawfully turned…
The forgotten lawyer who fought Jim Crow
In the early months of 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court decided two cases that might not initially appear to share anything in common. In Tyson and Brother v. Banton, the Supreme Court struck down a New York law forbidding the…
Grand juries are declining to indict in many cases brought by Trump’s DOJ
In August 2025, President Donald Trump took control of the police force in Washington, D.C., and deployed the National Guard throughout the city. To justify the incursion, he said the district was experiencing a "crime…
Why does SCOTUS hear so few Second Amendment cases?
The Second Amendment occupies a curious place in American legal history. It has been sitting right there in the Bill of Rights since those amendments were first added to the Constitution in 1791. Yet it was not until the 2008…
Federal Appellate Judges Can Petition the Supreme Court to Review a Question
Litigants often file "petitions for certiorari" asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case, or particular questions within the case. The overwhelming number of cases that reach the Court through such petitions.…
Lawsuit Against Saudi Arabia Over Al-Shamrani Mass Shooting at Pensacola Naval Air Station Can Go Forward, in Part
From yesterday's Eleventh Circuit decision by Judge Stanley Marcus, joined by Judges Jill Pryor and Britt Grant, in Watson v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:This violent and tragic case arose out of a shooting rampage involving…
How the ‘Curtiss-Wright’ precedent might aid Trump’s tariffs at SCOTUS
If you followed last week's U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments over President Donald Trump's supposed power to impose tariffs without first receiving clear authorization from Congress, you may have noticed that…
Brandenburg v. Ohio protects your right to controversial speech
On a Sunday evening in June 1964, about 20 men gathered at a farm in Ohio for a Ku Klux Klan rally. The event featured a cross burning, some stray racist and antisemitic remarks, and a short, desultory speech by a TV…
Trump’s lawyer at SCOTUS cites a letter from Madison that says tariffs are taxes
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the legality of the tariffs that President Donald Trump has implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Trump's main argument is…
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