Supreme Court

The Supreme Court: Usurping the Legislative and Taxing Power

“Precedence,” as well as following or overturning precedents, is not limited to what is decided in new cases. It is also concerns the adherence to established principles of judicial jurisprudence. Without both kinds of precedence, there is no limit to the power of the judiciary...

The Supreme Court: “Never to the Right, Forever to the Left”

Despite all the unfounded fear on the left and all the equally unfounded euphoria on the right, there will be no wholesale revamping by the Supreme Court of the liberal social order that is now deeply rooted in our culture and among our people. The conservative justices' ethos of...

Reason and Its Usurpers

The clashes of contemporary political life can alienate anyone, but this is not the time to withdraw from the fight. As recent events clearly show, the most hopeful signs sometimes come from the places we least expect. 

Brett Kavanaugh and Originalism

Even before the spectacle of Christine Balsey Ford's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the hearing for President Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, was characterized not by political acumen, wit, cunning, or prudence, but...

The Supreme Court’s Most Unprecedented Case?

In the case of United States v. Windsor, the Supreme Court found that the Constitution required formal, legal, and constitutional recognition of homosexual marriage. And yet if the Court had followed its own precedents, it would have ruled that Edith Windsor lacked the legal standing to file her original...

The Elephant in the Hearing Room

The dual hearing of Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh is portrayed as a mere "he said/she said," with the result hinging on relative credibility. Both appeared credible. But many liars and deceivers appear credible. That is...

The Right to Create Your Own Universe?

The Supreme Court apotheosized the right of privacy in its now-famous words: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life"... Editor’s Note: This essay continues a discussion of...

How Would a Justice Kavanaugh Rule on Religious Liberty Cases?

Despite candidate Donald Trump’s explicit promise to appoint justices who would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, as president he declared in his introduction of Brett Kavanaugh that, “like Ronald Reagan,” he did not ask potential nominees where they stood on controversial cases...

Does the Supreme Court Really Respect Precedent?

Would the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh have a profound impact on the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court? In other words, would his addition to the Court eventually have a broad and historic impact equal to that of Justice...

Anthony Kennedy’s Jurisprudence of Extreme Individualism

The paradigm motivating Justice Kennedy’s jurisprudence is of an individual who must be protected by the courts from all outside pressures. The result has been increasing hostility toward the fundamental institutions on which our constitutional order relies...

The Supreme Court Decides on Gerrymandering

With the Supreme Court's decision in Gill v. Whitford, the door is now open under the right political circumstances for state courts to take over political redistricting. And the constitutional changes will be permanent... In the Wisconsin political-gerrymandering...

The “Masterpiece” Decision: Half a Cake Is Better Than None

Though Masterpiece is a decision upholding religious liberty, the Supreme Court's ruling makes it clear that free speech about homosexuality does not enjoy broad protections... In the first of two momentous cases on its docket as to whether...

Will the Supreme Court Tell Pro-Lifers What to Say?

By state law, the state of California is now forcing pregnancy-support centers, whose sole purpose for existence is to offer alternatives to abortion, to “conspicuously” notify pregnant women of where they can receive abortions. The centers have objected...

Going Rogue: When Our Courts Join the Democratic Opposition

With a “clear, plain, and palpable” eagerness to seize control of the Pennsylvania congressional map in time for the 2018 mid-term elections, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has gone beyond judicial activism and joined with the Democrats in their...