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Articles tagged with this keyword discuss legal cases and the impact of specific legal decisions on federal and state laws.
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The Curious History of Ellis Island

Ellis Island celebrates its 125th anniversary as the federal immigration depot.
by Matthew Wills, R. Lawrence Swanson, Donald F Squires via JSTOR Daily on January 1, 2017
An American flag flying in front of a large Christian cross.

The Religious-Liberty Attack on Transgender Rights

Conservative Christians are out to restore their historical legal privileges.
by David Sehat via Boston Review on May 27, 2016

“Sodomy is not Adultery”: The Clinton Sex Scandal as Queer History

Until fairly recently, President Clinton's narrow definition of adultery would have been backed up by the courts.
by Alison Lefkovitz via NOTCHES on April 7, 2016

The Strange Career of Free Exercise

How efforts to bolster religious liberty set off a chain of unintended consequences.
by Garrett Epps via The Atlantic on April 4, 2016
Members of the 1976 United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Warren Burger, center.

It’s Been 40 Years Since the Supreme Court Tried to Fix the Death Penalty— Here’s How It Failed

A close look at the grand compromise of 1976.
by Evan Mandery via The Marshall Project on March 30, 2016
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Going Negative

Judicial dissent in the Supreme Court has a long history.
by Thomas Healy via Boston Review on November 12, 2015

Donald Trump Meet Wong Kim Ark

He was the Chinese-American cook who became the father of ‘birthright citizenship.’
by Fred Barbash via Washington Post on August 31, 2015

To Have and to Hold

Griswold v. Connecticut became about privacy; what if it had been about equality?
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on May 25, 2015

How Corrupt Are Our Politics?

A review of Zephyr Teachout's "Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United."
by David Cole via New York Review of Books on September 25, 2014
Elder M. Andrew Robinson-Gaither demonstrates for reparations for slavery.

The Thirteenth Amendment and a Reparations Program

The amendment, which brought an end to slavery in the U.S., could be used to begin a national debate on reparations.
by Ramsin Canon via U.S. Intellectual History Blog on July 12, 2014

How the NRA Rewrote the Second Amendment

The Founders never intended to create an unregulated individual right to a gun.
by Michael Waldman via Politico Magazine on May 19, 2014
Baby sleeping in a woman's arms.
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What’s the Definition of “Person”?

Two court cases that defined and changed the nature of personhood.
via BackStory on May 10, 2013

Re-mapping American Politics

The redistricting revolution, fifty years later.
by David Stebenne via Origins on February 5, 2012

On the Death Sentence

David Garland makes a powerful argument that will persuade many readers that the death penalty is unwise and unjustified.
by John Paul Stevens via New York Review of Books on December 23, 2010
Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson: A Vote for Cutting Off Your Nose

To reduce Virginia’s use of the death penalty, Thomas Jefferson proposed using permanent disfigurement as a punishment for rape, polygamy, and sodomy.
by Matthew Wills, Emily Cock via JSTOR Daily on June 4, 2025
A drawing of John Adams.

John Adams Is Bald and Toothless

A brief history of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
by Michael Liss via 3 Quarks Daily on May 19, 2025
Donald Trump and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

When Presidents Sought a Third (and Fourth) Term

Winning more than two elections was unthinkable. Then came FDR.
by Russell Berman via The Atlantic on May 1, 2025
Chief Justice John Roberts.

So, How Much of Korematsu Did the Supreme Court “Overrule,” Exactly?

Chief Justice John Roberts called it “obvious” that the infamous decision has “no place in law under the Constitution.” Recent events suggest otherwise.
by Madiba K. Dennie via Balls And Strikes on April 14, 2025
Woodrow Wilson delivering his second innaugural address in front of a large crowd.

America Was at Its Trumpiest 100 Years Ago. Here’s How to Prevent the Worst.

During World War I, America lurched toward autocracy. Resistance was minimal.
by Adam Hochschild via Washington Post on April 3, 2025
Civil rights lawyers including Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley.

Trump's Attack on Lawyers and Law Firms Takes a Page Out of the Southern 1950s Playbook

American authoritarians fear the uniquely American power of litigation.
by Sherrilyn Ifill via Sherrilyn's Newsletter on March 24, 2025
Police officer, yellow tape, and abandoned bikes and lawnchairs after the Highland Park shooting.
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How Gun Violence and the Supreme Court Have Shaped Second Amendment Rights

Supreme Court rulings on gun laws highlight the struggle to balance individual rights and public safety.
via Retro Report on January 24, 2025
Home owners Loan Corporation map of Detroit.

Beyond Brown: The Failure of Desegregation in the North and America’s Lingering Racial Fault Lines

On the ongoing legal struggle for educational and racial equality across the United States.
by Michelle Adams via Literary Hub on January 15, 2025
Birthright citizenship form, with infant footprints stamped in black ink, on fire.

The Plot Against Birthright Citizenship

The incoming Trump administration wants to take away citizenship for the US-born children of undocumented immigrants. Here’s how.
by Isabela Dias via Mother Jones on November 26, 2024
Supreme Court justices William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, and Owen J. Roberts at the White House.

FDR’s Compliant Justices

The Supreme Court’s deference to FDR during World War II resulted in unjustifiable ethical breaches.
by Jed S. Rakoff via New York Review of Books on November 14, 2024
President Woodrow Wilson riding as a passenger in a two seater car with his chauffeur, George Howard.

States’ Rights or Inalienable Rights?

Some early progressives may have been advocates of states’ rights, but they misunderstood the philosophy of the American Founding.
by Samuel Postell via Law & Liberty on November 13, 2024

Congress’s Power to Investigate Crime Is More Important Than Ever

A new historical study finds that Congress’s authority to investigate crime is “indispensable” to the system of checks and balances.
by Dave Rapallo via Lawfare on November 1, 2024
Red elephant and blue donkey on the scales of justice.

The Origin of Campaign Finance Reform Troubles

While the Citizens United case created major shifts in campaign contributions and spending, an earlier decision played a bigger role in campaign finance laws.
by Ryan Reft via The Saturday Evening Post on October 17, 2024
State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill Administration Building, with a restricted entrance sign in front of its doors.

The Porous Prison

How incarcerated people have become separated from American society.
by Charlotte Rosen, Reiko Hillyer via Public Books on October 3, 2024
A monkey listening to a radio with headphones.

The Scopes Trial and the Two Visions of US Democracy

A new history revisits “the Trial of the Century” and its legacy in contemporary politics.
by Michael Kazin via The Nation on September 30, 2024
Political cartoon of clothed animals and Anthony Comstock bathing clothed, and cowering at underwear in a store window.

The History and Legacy of Anthony Comstock and the Comstock Laws

As the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 proposes to revive the Comstock Act, this seven-part forum explores the Act’s influence on American life.
by Lauren MacIvor Thompson, Allison K. Lange, Kimberly A. Hamlin, Nicholas L. Syrett, Cathleen D. Cahill, Magdalene Zier, Andrew Wender Cohen via SHGAPE Blog on September 24, 2024
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