Tag: Supreme Court

  • Consent Revisited in Light of New Facts

    In a previous post, I argued deception robbed sexual and marriage partners of their capacity to grant informed consent: attempts to reduce consent to the simple act of saying “yes” actually ignore the ways in which fraudulently representing oneself may be coercive. We can hate the bigotry and prejudice that make the lies seem necessary…

  • Citizens United v. FEC: Yes, corporations are people, too.

    Let’s get the jokes out of the way: “If corporations are people, do they get to vote?” “If corporations are people, can we start incarcerating them when they commit crimes?” “Does this mean I can marry my bank?” “Does charging a fee for incorporation constitute an unconstitutional violation of their reproductive rights?” “Thank God we’ve…

  • “More Light!” Lying, Police Work, and the Exclusionary Rule

    “More Light!” Lying, Police Work, and the Exclusionary Rule

    In the 1961 case Mapp v. Ohio, the Supreme Court declined to protect the the possession of pornographic material, but instead decided to exclude all evidence gained through unconstitutional searches. Last month, the Supreme Court revisited that decision in Herring v. United States, where they reconsidered the rule of evidence that excludes evidence gained unconstitutionally. Exclusion,…

  • American Constitution Society’s SCOTUS Term Review

    Every year the ACS does a round table on the Supreme Court’s decisions at the end of the term. They’ve posted the roundtable from this year online, so you can listen to some of the leading lights in constitutional law analyze the cases. Here’s a direct link to the audio video. Here’s a page linking…

  • Lamont’s win and campaign finance

    Still getting the bugs squared away here, and I lost a long post on Lamont’s win in Connecticut. The short version: 1. Beware a Republican win against a split “Democratic” ticket. 2. Lamont spent less money than Lieberman, so money doesn’t always unseat incumbents. 3. Speech beat Lieberman, not finances. We should re-separate the two.…