19 January 2022
The Death of Law and Equity
On the same day, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions governing requests for emergency stays of two rules protecting Americans from COVID 19. Both rules relied on very similar statutory language, which clearly authorized protection from threats to health. Both of them presented strikingly bad cases for emergency stays. Yet, the Court granted an emergency stay in one of these cases and denied it in the other. These decisions suggest that the Court applies judicial discretion unguided by law or traditional equitable considerations governing treatment of politically controversial regulatory cases. Continue reading >>
1 
03 September 2021
Has the U.S. Supreme Court Effectively Overruled Roe v. Wade?
Late in the evening of September 1 the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order that many critics have described as effectively overruling Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision holding that the U.S. Constitution protected a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. That description, though technically inaccurate, does capture something important about the Court’s order: It made abortions unavailable as a practical matter for many women in Texas who would have had access to abortion services had the Court issued a different order. Continue reading >>02 September 2021
Kopfgeld gegen Abtreibungen
Seit dem 1. September 2021 sind Abtreibungen in Texas faktisch verboten – obwohl die Rechtsprechung des US Supreme Courts Abtreibungen vor der 24. Schwangerschaftswoche erlaubt und entgegenstehende Regelungen verfassungswidrig sind. Der US-Bundesstaat Texas hat ein Gesetz erlassen, das die Bürger:innen einspannen soll, um das Ziel eines faktischen Verbotes zu erreichen – mit einem Anreiz von $10.000, wenn sie die Durchführung von Abtreibungen zivilgerichtlich verhindern. Die unter dem Schlagwort Roe v. Wade zusammengefasste Rechtsprechung zum Schwangerschaftsabbruch könnte sich grundlegend verändern und die schlimmsten Befürchtungen, die nach dem Tod von Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg unter Liberalen aufkamen, wahr werden. Continue reading >>09 November 2020
What Happens Next?
Despite the length of time it took to determine the result, this is not a close election. Everyone who has felt that the last four years brought American democracy perilously close to collapse should now feel relieved. Biden’s margin of victory in the decisive states is too large to be overturned by typical recounts or by the usual toolbox of legal challenges. As I will explain in this post, however, we’re not completely out of danger yet. Continue reading >>06 November 2020
Die große Illusion
Über den Wahlverlierer Trump, Spannungsbögen und den Unterschied zwischen einem Punkt und einem Strich Continue reading >>06 November 2020
The Grand Illusion
On the loser Donald Trump, several arcs of suspense and the difference between a dot and a dash Continue reading >>05 November 2020
Corona Constitutional, Folge #50: Warum Trump klagt
Die Wahl in den USA ist gelaufen, und es sieht doch eigentlich nicht schlecht aus für Joe Biden und seine Chancen, Donald Trump aus dem Weißen Haus zu vertreiben. Sollte man meinen. Aber neben diesem Wahlauszählungs-Spektakel läuft parallel noch eine ganz andere Partie, von der man nicht so viel mitbekommt, eine juristische nämlich, und die könnte es sein, die am Ende über Sieg und Niederlage entscheidet. Worum es in diesen Gerichtsverfahren geht, welche Strategie dahintersteckt und was das alles für die demokratische Verfassung im ältesten und größten demokratischen Verfassungsstaat bedeutet, darüber rede ich heute mit der Anwältin ANJA VON ROSENSTIEL, die in Boston lebt und in den letzten Monaten im Wahlkampfteam von Joe Biden mitgearbeitet hat und dieses juristische Spiel, das die Republikaner im Augenblick treiben, aus der Nähe verfolgt. Continue reading >>
0
05 November 2020
What Just Happened?
The American electorate seems to have spoken and it seems to have rejected President Trump. But the there is still the possibility of mischief if Trump succeeds in using the law to thwart the election results. The US constitutional system with its strange and unique system for selecting a president is just rickety enough to make it possible for Trump to litigate his way out of an election loss. Continue reading >>03 November 2020
Stabilizing the US Judiciary by Threatening to Pack It
Reforming the judicial appointment process in the US will take a constitutional amendment. Without it, reform attempts are likely to fail. For conservatives especially, altering the courts now, after securing a very conservative majority unprecedented in recent history, will seem unappealing. They may (perhaps correctly) conclude that, given their systematic advantages in the Senate and therefore electoral college, endless escalation is a game they may be able to win. This blog post proposes a simple mechanism that aims to force a stabilizing constitutional amendment forward while preserving the option to escalate if they cannot secure cooperation from the Republican party. Continue reading >>
0
01 November 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court and the 2020 Election
As Election Day looms, Americans are heading to the polls, and they are also heading to the courts. In the past two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued rulings in five challenges to election-related practices in different states, and there are surely more to come. The litigation has exposed disagreements on the high court, and on lower courts as well, about where responsibility lies for ensuring elections play out fairly and in accordance with law. Of all of the opinions flying around, the one to get the most attention is perhaps a concurrence from Justice Kavanaugh that invokes Bush v. Gore, in which the Court stopped a recount in Florida and thereby decided the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Continue reading >>
0