Author Archives: Colin Starger

For many Civil Procedure professors, the end of the Fall semester means it’s time to teach appeals. I’m not afraid to admit this gives me a certain nerdy joy. O final judgment! This year, I succumbed to nerd impulses and mapped … Continue reading →

In its second opinion of the 2015 Term, Mullenix v. Luna, the Court held a police officer immune from liability for his role in killing a fleeing suspect. This is how Justice Sotomayor’s solo dissent describes the conduct ultimately protected by the Court: … Continue reading →

On Monday, the Court handed down its second opinion of the 2015 Term, Mullenix v. Luna. The map above displays the all the Supreme Court cases cited by the per curiam majority opinion as well as by Justice Sotomayor in dissent. … Continue reading →

Does precedent determine how the Supreme Court will rule in any given case? Not necessarily. While past decisions should guide the Court’s resolution of new problems, justices may disagree on the scope of prior rulings. Justices may even disagree on whether … Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →