constitutional law

Lawyer: Obama Should Start Pardoning Right Away

Dan Slater
November 21, 2008 16:46

On Tuesday, we did a bit of pardon speculation and asked whether President Bush, on his way out of the White House, might have a Marc Rich moment and make a controversial get-outta-jail-free pick. (Conrad Black, anyone? Hard to say, but Slate thinks Michael Milken and Scooter Libby are pardon...

Catching Legal Momentum

Toby Stock
November 20, 2008 19:53

For prospective students interested in gender-violence and women’s rights, I want to highlight a recent presentation by Maya Raghu of Legal Momentum. A Senior Staff Attorney and Director of the Employment and Housing Rights for Victims of Domestic Violence Program, Raghu provided some valuable i...

Cali High Court to Review Prop. 8; Ban Remains Pending Final Decision

Dan Slater
November 20, 2008 14:23

It’s time to put Proposition 8 back on our radar. Yesterday, California’s High Court voted 6 to 1 to review legal challenges to the voter initiative that restored the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. (But the court refused to stay the ban pending its final decision.) Associated...

Swastikas & the Confrontation Clause

Dan Slater
November 19, 2008 15:05

We’ve never spent too much time pondering the Confrontation Clause. In fact, it doesn’t appear to have ever been mentioned on the Law Blog. So here goes. Are a witness’s swastika tattoos admissible as evidence of bias when the witness is testifying in the trial of a Hispanic man?...

Marriage Uncertainty in California, and A Look Back at the Road to Same-Sex Marriage in Canada

November 19, 2008 12:00

The election of President-elect Barack Obama on November 4th was a euphoric moment for socially progressive American voters. The jubilation, however, was attenuated by the simultaneous passage of anti-gay legislation in four states. California, Arizona and Florida voted to ban same-sex marriages...