Search for: "Jonathan H. Adler"
Results 341 - 360
of 500
Sorted by Relevance
|
Sort by Date
25 Feb 2018, 11:00 am
As some commentators have noted, one of the Supreme Court's opinions released last week features an interesting debate on whether courts should consult congressional reports and other forms of legislative history to help determined the meaning of or legislative intent behind a particular statutory provision. In Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion for the Court concluding that the whistleblower-protection provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act do not… [read post]
11 May 2025, 6:31 am
[From Qatar, with love, a "palace in the sky."] ABC News reports: In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred… [read post]
19 Apr 2025, 8:39 am
[An interesting report that suggests some internal disagreement over how to handle higher education.] Last week, the Trump Administration sent a letter to Harvard University threatening serious consequences were the University not to adopt a broad series of reforms including (but not limited to) changes in hiring and admissions. Unlike some other universities, Harvard stood its ground and announced it would not comply. Now it appears someone in the Trump Administration may have acted prematurely in… [read post]
24 Feb 2025, 7:02 pm
[Why is the Supreme Court issuing fewer summary reversals? Is Justice Barrett the reason?] The Supreme Court summarily reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Andrew v. White. Such summary reversals used to be somewhat commonplace. (Indeed, as I've chronicled on this blog, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit used to get summarily reversed with some frequency in habeas cases.) Yet as Adam Liptak notes in the New York Times, summary reversals are less… [read post]
9 Feb 2025, 9:56 am
In 2023, Mark Tushnet and Aaron Belkin published an "Open Letter to the Biden Administration on Popular Constitutionalism" making recommendations on how the Biden Administration should respond to the "not . . . normal" Supreme Court. It read in part: We urge President Biden to restrain MAGA justices immediately by announcing that if and when they issue rulings that are based on gravely mistaken interpretations of the Constitution that undermine our most fundamental commitments,… [read post]
26 Jan 2025, 2:53 pm
" Frank H. Easterbrook, Substance and Due Process, 1982 Sup. Ct. Rev. 85, 97–98. [read post]
24 Dec 2024, 8:17 am
The plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States--aka the "kids climate case"--are back at the Supreme Court asking the justices to bring their case back from the dead. The lawsuit (which I have covered repeatedly) claims there is a federal constitutional right to a stable environment enforceable in federal court. While one district court judge accepted these arguments, the Ninth Circuit has repeatedly concluded the plaintiffs lack standing to press their audacious claims. Back in May, the U.S.… [read post]
10 Dec 2024, 7:56 am
This morning the Supreme Court issued its first signed decision in an argued case for October Term 2024. (The Court previously DIGged another case.) This restores the tradition of deciding at least some cases in the fall. Last year, the Court's first decision in an argued case did not appear until January. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote for a unanimous Court in Bouarfa v. Mayorkas, which considered whether a petitioner may obtain judicial review when an approved visa petition is… [read post]
23 Oct 2024, 3:42 pm
Most discussions of constitutional interpretation focus on the interpretation of the federal constitution. But (as Judge Jeffrey Sutton likes to remind us) there are actually 51 constitutions in the United States, and constitutional doctrines can develop (and have developed) differently at the state level. Different state constitutions were adopted at different times, and many have features that are quite distinct from the federal constitution. For example, many states elect multiple executive… [read post]
30 Sep 2024, 11:02 am
In debates over whether universities should (or should be allowed to) consider race in admissions, it is often pointed out that many universities give preferences to the children of alumni and university donors. It is also fairly noted that such preferences may have racially disparate effects (particularly at institutions that were formerly segregated). As a legal matter, however, race-based preferences more suspect than other admissions preferences. Under current 14th Amendment's Equal… [read post]
9 Sep 2024, 8:36 am
[A new empirical study assesses the "quality" of Trump's judicial nominations.] A new paper by Stephen Choi and Mitu Gulati, "How Different Are the Trump Judges?" seeks to evaluate the quality of Trump's judicial appointments as compared to their colleagues on the bench. It produces some interesting results. Here's the abstract. Donald J. Trump's presidency broke the mold in many ways, including how to think about judicial appointments. Unlike other recent… [read post]
24 Jul 2024, 7:05 am
[The Office of Disciplinary Counsel comes for the "censorious" Judge Tim Grendell] Longtime VC readers may recall the "censorious thuggery" of Geauga County, Ohio Judge Timothy Grendell. His conduct from the bench has long been controversial, but he nonetheless ran for re-election unopposed in 2020. When I last blogged about Judge Grendell, it was after reports he threatened to hold a mother in contempt of court for having her child tested for COVID-19 even though the test was… [read post]
10 Jul 2024, 7:18 pm
[Activists and politicians look for almost any excuse to claim that judges should withdraw from cases. Their calls for recusal may be frivolous, but it gives them an opportunity to criticize judges they don't like.] It is becoming increasingly common for politicians and activist groups to call for judges to recuse from high-profile cases on the flimsiest of grounds. One example was the laughable effort by Senator Elizabeth Warren to get Judge Don Willett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the… [read post]
8 Jul 2024, 8:13 am
[That some legal commentators are surprised by Justice Barrett may say more about Court commentary (and the way she was caricatured when nominated) than it does about Justice Barrett.] Since the Supreme Court term ended, there have been numerous articles on Justice Barrett, highlighting her independence and thoughtfulness, noting she is simultaneously quite conservative and yet cautious. See, for example, these articles from NBC News and the Washington Post. In today's New York… [read post]
5 May 2024, 7:56 am
[The former Senator says "the adults are still in charge" in Gainesville] Ben Sasse, President of the University of Florida, has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal explaining his approach to speech and protest at UF. The op-ed articulates three principles that other universities may wish to follow. First, universities must distinguish between speech and action. Speech is central to education. We're in the business of discovering knowledge and then passing it, both newly… [read post]
23 Apr 2024, 9:50 pm
[A Federalist Society Forum on "Jurisdiction Stripping: Fact & Fiction Flowing Through the Mountain Valley Pipeline Case"] Last week I participated in a Federalist Society teleforum on the legal issues raised by Congress' decision to limit judicial review of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in response to aggressive (and initially successful) litigation by environmentalist groups. As I noted here, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit initially resisted Congress'… [read post]
2 Apr 2024, 9:50 am
[If doctors cannot sue the FDA for failing to restrict pharmaceuticals or other products, can anyone else? And if not, is this a problem?] If doctors who believe the Food & Drug Administration mistakenly approved or deregulated a drug cannot sue the FDA, can anyone else? This was the very first question asked at oral argument in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine last week. Though initially raised by Justice Thomas, other justices picked up on the question, and it remains an interesting… [read post]
30 Mar 2024, 1:59 pm
[My article surveying the effectiveness of the ESA is now in print as part of an FIU symposium.] The FIU Law Review has just published my article Tarnished Gold: The Endangered Species Act at 50. Here is the abstract: The ESA is arguably the most powerful and stringent federal environmental law on the books. Yet for all of the Act's force and ambition, it is unclear how much the law has done much to achieve its central purpose: the conservation of endangered species. The law has been slow… [read post]
22 Mar 2024, 12:17 pm
[The Department of Justice is asking the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit's Rejection of the FDA's "Surprise Switcheroo."] This week, the Office of the Solicitor General filed a petition for certiorari in FDA v. Wages & White Lion Investments LLC, asking the Supreme Court to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit's en banc decision concluding that the FDA's denial of some vaping product pre-market tobacco applications (PMTAs) was… [read post]
17 Mar 2024, 1:30 pm
[Are law professors too quick to sign their names on briefs submitted to courts? Is this a problem?] The number of amicus briefs submitted by academics has increased dramatically over the past several decades. In principle, such scholars' briefs should help courts resolve difficult cases by sharing relevant expertise. Judges are necessarily generalists. Scholars in a particular field, on the other hand, may have genuine expertise about the specific issues at hand in a given case that could… [read post]
