Ask the author: Floyd Abrams & his fighting faith

The following is a series of questions posed to Floyd Abrams by Ronald Collins on the occasion of the publication of Abrams’s new book, Friend of the Court: On the Front Lines with the First Amendment (Yale University Press, 2013). Welcome, Floyd.  Thank you for taking the time to participate in this Question and Answer [...]

Ask the author: Marcia Coyle on the Roberts Court

The following is a series of questions posed by Ronald Collins on the occasion of the publication of Marcia Coyle’s The Roberts Court: The Struggle for the Constitution (Simon & Schuster, May 2013). Ms. Coyle is the Chief Washington Correspondent for The National Law Journal. Welcome, Marcia.  Thank you for taking the time to participate [...]

Online VRA symposium: When should the best be the enemy of the possible?

The following contribution to our VRA symposium comes from Nathaniel Persily, Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Columbia Law School. When the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, my first, quite parochial, reaction was:  “There goes the Voting Rights Act.”  Prior to that decision, the political scientist in [...]

The June surprises: Balls, strikes, and the fog of war

©Charles Fried, 2012 Chief Justice Roberts, in his confirmation hearing, famously analogized the role of the judge to an umpire, calling balls and strikes.  Many of those relieved at the outcome of the litigation about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) think the Chief Justice called a ball a strike, a strike a [...]

SCOTUS for law students: A campaign finance face-off (sponsored by Bloomberg Law)

The Supreme Court is accustomed to having the last word on matters of constitutional interpretation. But in the application of First Amendment free speech principles to restrictions on corporate campaign spending, the Montana Supreme Court invoked one of the lessons from first-year law school – that facts matter – to uphold state restrictions on independent [...]

Today in the Community: November 9, 2011

Today in the Community we discuss the relationship between the Court and the media, and specifically appearances by Justices and former Justices in the press. The Justices make many public appearances, including lectures and visits to law schools, but interviews are relatively rare. Below, we welcome your thoughts about the virtues and drawbacks of greater [...]

Argument recap: Kennedy shows his hand

Arizona’s 13-year-old system of providing public funds to subsidize candidates who forgo private contributions appears in serious constitutional jeopardy in an argument before the Court.

Tuesday round-up

Covering yesterday’s grants, notable denials, oral arguments, and a per curiam decision

Everything you read about the Supreme Court is wrong (Updated)

Ideologues on both the left and right, as well as the public generally, frequently repeat their own received wisdoms that the Supreme Court is an easily categorized institution and that the Justices are committedly "liberal" or "conservative," with Justice Kennedy as the lone swing vote.  Liberals and conservatives also consistently accuse their opposites of being [...]

Thursday round-up

Yesterday at the Court featured not one but two highly anticipated events:  the opinion in Salazar v. Buono, an Establishment Clause challenge to a cross in a public park on Establishment Clause grounds; and the oral argument in Doe v. Reed, a case brought by Washington State ballot initiative petition signers trying to conceal their identities. Tony [...]

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