Monthly Archives: October 2015
Three Looks at Glossip
On the last day of last Term (June 29), the Supreme Court handed down Glossip v. Gross, which effectively authorized under the Eighth Amendment lethal injections that use a three-drug protocol of midazolam, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. Since then, the … Continue reading
Doctrinal Desert: A Watershed in Sight?
Last week, the Supreme Court heard argument in Montgomery v. Louisiana. Two issues were on the table. The first is whether the Court’s 2012 Miller v. Alabama decision — striking down mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles to under the Eighth Amendment — applies … Continue reading
Obergefell: Equal Protection for Children?
Last week on this forum, I mapped out a line of Supreme Court equal protection cases know as the non-marital children cases. These cases were featured in a key amicus brief submitted by the Scholars of the Consitutional Rights of Children … Continue reading
Obergefell: Equal Protection and Due Process Convergence?
The right of same-sex couples to marry that is part of the liberty promised by the Fourteenth Amendment is derived, too, from that Amendment’s guarantee of the equal protection of the laws. The Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection … Continue reading
Authority for Maryland v. Kulbicki
Yesterday the Supreme Court handed down its first opinion of the 2015 Term, Maryland v. Kulbicki. In a per curiam opinion, the Court reversed a Maryland Court of Appeals decision that had ordered post-conviction relief for Kulbicki based on his counsel’s ineffective … Continue reading
Spaeth Projection: Non-Marital Children Cases
When it comes to same-sex marriage, it’s all about the children. Or so I thought when I first read Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges. Although “safeguard[ing] children and families” technically provided the “third basis” for “protecting the right to marry,” … Continue reading
Exorcise the Confederacy!
It’s time to wrap up and conclude this blog series on “Beyond the Confederate Narrative.” For context, recall the article’s argument as described in prior posts. The Confederate narrative started out as a state-power justification for slavery and then transformed into a Reconstruction-defeating jurisprudence (Part 1 ; Part … Continue reading
