2/25/21  //  Commentary

By Harper Jean Tobin: In an age of photo ID and other biometrics, a sex designation is far from essential for identification purposes. It’s about the furthest thing from a unique identifier, and requires dubious judgments about what a man or woman should look like.

2/25/21  //  Commentary

Our Constitution establishes an inclusive multiracial democracy based on the equal worth and dignity of all Americans. Denying the people of Washington, D.C. a voice or representation in Congress does violence to these fundamental constitutional principles.

12/7/20  //  Commentary

On this week's Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss the recent Supreme Court decisions requiring states to allow in-person religious services even while other gatherings can be banned. The pair gently disagree about how hard or easy these cases are. Listen now!

11/25/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

The 11th Circuit held that laws banning conversion therapy — a brutal practice that significantly increases depression and suicide among LGBTQ youth — violate speech rights. The decision signals how Trump-appointed judges could weaponize the First Amendment to roll back civil rights.

9/17/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss two new legal filings by the Trump DOJ that blur the line between the President as government official and the President as private citizen. In the first case, the government argues that the President's twitter feed is not an official public forum, so he can block people with whom he disagrees. In the second, the government argues that the President's denials that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll were made in his official capacity as President. Listen now!

8/26/20  //  Commentary

The Nineteenth Amendment helped cement the idea that the right to vote is a fundamental right inherent in citizenship

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

The Pentagon released a detailed policy for recruiting transgender troops.

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

Another federal judge blocked a Trump Administration executive order that would allow employers with religious objections to refuse employee's contraceptive coverage as a part of healthcare plans.

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

Another federal judge blocked a Trump Administration executive order that would allow employers with religious objections to refuse employee's contraceptive coverage as a part of healthcare plans. A federal district court in Michigan has upheld a right to display signs depicting aborted fetuses.

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump's Muslim ban echoes Japanese internment in the U.S. during World War II, and the Supreme Court should not make the same mistake today. The Education Department is proposing to delay by two years an Obama-era rule that would push states to ensure that students of color are not over-represented in special education and put in programs because of racial bias.

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump’s Muslim ban echoes Japanese internment in the U.S. during World War II, and the Supreme Court should not make the same mistake today. President Trump has abandoned his campaign promises to help Christian refugees as his administration has accepted significantly fewer than previous administrations.

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

Justice Gorsuch's limitation of his use of the word 'privacy' at the oral argument of Carpenter v. United States may mean a desire to limit substantive due process doctrine in the future. DHS's costly implementation of facial screening technology at airports is technologically flawed and is a significant escalation in government surveillance, claims a report from Georgetown University researchers. Use of fear-mongering tactics in the campaign to pass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act demonstrates contempt for Fourth Amendment rights.

2/12/18  //  Commentary

Tolerating discrimination and tolerating the desire not to be discriminated against are simply not the same.

2/12/18  //  Commentary

A recently filed amicus brief highlights how one court has departed from Whole Woman's Health and other cases.

8/24/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

DOJ’s investigation into Harvard’s affirmative action program is bigger than it looks (and it already looked big).

3/16/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

President Trump favors federal legislation requiring states to recognize concealed carry licenses issued by other states. But that policy rests on shaky constitutional foundations.

6/26/18  //  Commentary

The real problem is the Trump Administration itself. What feels like damage today is largely the echo of damage that already happened, rather than something new.

6/15/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Thomas C. Berg & Douglas Laycock: The classic American response to deep conflicts like that between gay rights and traditional religious faith is to protect the liberty of both sides

6/21/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Easha Anand makes her triumphant return to talk qualified immunity and police reform. The trio talk about the proposal to reform qualified immunity and debate whether that will do much. They then break down other new legal innovations in the various proposals and ask: is it enough to create new grounds for people to sue? Or are other reforms more important? Listen now!

3/22/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

In the landmark Texas Voter ID case, DOJ has begun its official retreat from the protection of minority voting rights. This is the wrong decision and an ominous sign for the future.

2/28/19  //  Uncategorized

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha discuss a decision from a federal court in Los Angeles ordering the Trump Administration to grant citizenship to both children of a same-sex couple born abroad to one U.S. parent. Listen now!

7/5/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

The question is not whether the reconstituted Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade. The only question is how the Supreme Court will do so.

7/5/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

There are a few recyclable sentences lurking in lower-profile cases that may offer the best guidance to where the Court is heading next

3/15/18  //  Commentary

Disclosure laws further First Amendment values by ensuring that consumers have access to accurate information about their rights to state-funded care and how to access these benefits.

6/27/19  //  Quick Reactions

The Court’s decision in Rucho will have profound and disastrous implications for the 2020 redistricting cycle and beyond. But it may also foreshadow the endgame for Section 2

6/11/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

A half century ago women and men challenging abortion restrictions were creative in making claims on the Constitution, taking to the streets, to the legislatures, and to the courts. In their audacity and creativity, we can find our future.

5/8/18  //  Uncategorized

Michigan legislators want to exempt rural residents from Medicaid work requirements, but not extend the same accommodation to people who live in cities. The racial disparities are obvious—and unlawful.

1/16/18  //  Commentary

In increasingly vile and shocking ways, Trump has proven himself an unreformed racist on the model of the authors of Massive Resistance.

6/7/18  //  Commentary

The administration’s policy of forcibly separating children from their parents highlights some of the shortcomings with the legal justifications for the administration’s position in Azar v. Garza, the case in which the administration is refusing to allow undocumented women in its custody to obtain abortions.

3/21/17  //  Commentary

DOJ argues that courts can't hear challenges to Trump's executive order threatening to punish sanctuary cities. Its arguments are wrong and prove that Trump's policy is illegal.

7/10/17  //  Commentary

In a challenge to Texas's strict voter ID law, DOJ has just turned its back on minority voters and victims of discrimination in Texas.

8/24/17  //  Commentary

Here I explore the interests asserted by GoDaddy and Google in denying service to neo-Nazis and their ilk. I then consider implications of my analysis for the pending Supreme Court case of Masterpiece Cake Shop v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm'n.

1/24/18  //  Commentary

By Nimra Azmi and Sirine Shebaya: Trump's position on Guantánamo perfectly aligns with his habitual rejection of the idea that Muslims accused of terrorism are entitled to any constitutional protections

3/2/20  //  Commentary

With the argument in June Medical days away, Gretchen Borchelt of the National Women's Law Center argues that the Court must "reaffirm that women’s equality is fundamentally connected to the right to abortion."

7/6/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Ironically but thankfully, the result of Justice Alito's deeply mistaken analysis in Abbott v. Perez is an opinion that makes less bad law than it might have.

5/2/17  //  Commentary

100 days in and 25 years after the unrest in Los Angeles, the Trump Administration is failing communities entitled to fair and just policing.

4/11/17  //  Quick Reactions

The video of the United flight reveals more than just what happened. It also shows why DOJ oversight is so important.

12/21/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump holiday spectacular, it's all judges, all the time. Charlie, Jason, and Easha take a closer look at a number of the President's judicial nominees—confirmed, pending, and withdrawn—to examine what might happen to Versus Trump cases in years to come. Listen now!

5/16/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

If Roe is overturned, doctrines of religious freedom may help safeguard reproductive rights, but only if we build the groundwork by recovering the history of religious reproductive justice and amplifying the moral reasoning of pregnant people

7/1/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

Espinoza leaves us with a gluttonous Free Exercise Clause, and a starved Establishment Clause.

9/17/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

In recent months, commentators and the justices themselves have raised concerns about declining public confidence in the judiciary. But confidence has to be earned. Enforcing the law and summarily reversing the Fifth Circuit is an essential first step.

2/13/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss a dissenting opinion by a Trump-appointed judge arguing that states cannot be sued for violating the Voting Rights Act. They then say goodbye to Easha with a tribute to her thinking about Versus Trump law and litigation. Listen now!

3/27/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Department of Justice has filed a brief in the Fourth Circuit defending President Trump's revised entry ban. This is not an impressive brief: it is rife with misstatements of fact and incorrect legal arguments.

2/15/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha and Jason discuss a new lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration's approval of Kentucky's new rules for its Medicaid program. The new rules will require some Medicaid recipients to work 20 hours per week to receive health benefits, and they also impose other novel requirements. Listen now!

11/1/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

In Masterpiece, the Petitioner's argument would wreak havoc on long established First Amendment principles, giving businesses a right to disregard content-neutral regulations of their conduct

5/8/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Trump administration has repeatedly (and incorrectly) argued that a policy does not constitute discrimination unless the policy discriminates against all members of a particular group.

11/14/19  //  Uncategorized

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and Easha discuss a court's opinion vacating the Trump Administration's so-called "conscience rule." This rule would have broadly permitted many employees in the healthcare sector from in any way participating in procedures with which they have religious or moral disagreements—even in emergencies. Listen now!

3/20/17  //  Quick Reactions

In urging the Attorney General to cease using state courthouses as bait for undocumented migrants, the California Chief Justice displayed admirable bravery and commitment to the rule of law.

6/22/17  //  Commentary

David Gans discusses Ziglar v. Abassi, a new SCOTUS ruling that makes it very hard for individuals to sue federal officials for trampling on federal constitutional rights

10/30/17  //  Commentary

DOJ's position was about opposition to abortion, full stop. This explains it's baffling indifference to delaying to the moral implications of delaying a second-trimester abortion by eleven days.

10/2/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

While June Medical does not ask the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the practical effect of the state’s positions would allow states to regulate abortion out of existence

7/31/17  //  Commentary

By Saul Cornell: The opinion striking down D.C.'s gun law under the Second Amendment relies heavily on a selective culling of historical evidence—and a shocking ignorance of the most important facts about Anglo-American criminal law and its history.

10/31/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Robbie Kaplan and I have filed a brief on behalf of Church-State Scholars addressing the Free Exercise Clause issues in this important case.

1/18/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Jason, and Charlie discuss the big decision that forced the Trump Administration to restart the DACA immigration program. Listen now!

3/17/17  //  Commentary

The President should set a better example for other employers and leave the question of how to dress like a woman—with all of the trade-offs and nuances it entails—to the people who actually have to do it.

10/8/19  //  Quick Reactions

It seems just last month Justice Gorsuch was saying his rule was not to “make it up" and was to "follow the law.” The Title VII cases allow us to see whether that's the case.

4/17/17  //  Commentary

Privatization and decentralization of public education will return the U.S. to the days when students with disabilities were out-of-sight and out-of-mind, without meaningful education. Public schools could become the new institutions.

4/12/17  //  Commentary

Criminal justice agencies have become part of our communities' mental health services systems. They need to abide by the disability rights laws that govern mental health services

10/30/18  //  Commentary

Judges should strive toward constitutional understandings that protect the interests of people on different sides of the ideological spectrum

6/26/18  //  Commentary

The future of discrimination law is secure, in short—and securely shut to minority races, ethnicities, and creeds suffering at the hands of a populist majority.

4/9/18  //  Commentary

This post, which addresses collective responsibility for #MeToo, is part of a series on #MeToo, sex discrimination, and possible solutions that amount to more than quick fixes.

7/19/18  //  Commentary

Sending unions into bankruptcy because they mistakenly trusted the Supreme Court when it stood by Abood in 2012 (and declined to overrule it again in 2014) would be more than a blow to middle class workers; it would be a serious danger to the rule of law.

6/1/17  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Take Care's podcast, Easha and Jason dig into healthcare for the first time, as they take a deep dive into the House v. Price litigation that addresses whether certain payments to insurers under the Affordable Care Act have been properly appropriated. They also debate immigration rhetoric vs. action and discuss drug testing for unemployment benefits. Listen now!

5/17/17  //  Commentary

With briefing almost completed in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board, it’s good to remember the way in which the case can be resolved on straightforward statutory grounds without deciding whether Title IX prohibits discrimination against transgender persons, as such.

5/11/17  //  Commentary

Higher graduation rates nationwide have left students with disabilities even further behind.

5/30/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The president’s proposed budget reveals an intent to roll back protections for the most vulnerable members of society.

6/6/18  //  Quick Reactions

Justice Kennedy makes an open-ended call for tolerance and compromise in his opinion. For that, he should be commended

9/12/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Supreme Court recently made the exception into the rule for Establishment Clause cases, and signaled how it will refashion and discount disfavored precedent going forward.

5/15/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The rock-the-world power of #MeToo shows us that the ultimate key to change is story-sharing with families, friends and neighbors

4/5/18  //  Commentary

This post, which addresses retaliatory lawsuits against accusers, is part of a series on #MeToo, sex discrimination, and possible solutions that are more than quick fixes.

5/7/17  //  Commentary

In its Muslim Ban brief, DOJ favorably cites Palmer v. Thompson (1971)—which allowed Jackson, Mississippi to close public pools rather than integrate them. The Fourth Circuit should question DOJ about this stunning citation and make clear that Palmer, an odious ruling, has no place in anti-discrimination law today.

6/5/18  //  Quick Reactions

In some cases, the public perception of a case — not its actual holding — is what is most important.

7/2/20  //  Commentary

The Court’s LGBTQ rulings should not distract from the broader trajectory of its jurisprudence in favor of the privileged.

6/28/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Alexandra Brodsky on how the Department of Education has retreated from civil rights enforcement and hid behind unlawful opacity.

5/12/17  //  Commentary

President Donald Trump is known for changing his political views after a ten-minute history lesson. In this continuing feature, I encourage the president to take a few minutes to learn about the historical background of things he says. This first edition, on his signing statement regarding HBCUs, concerns one of his favorite historical topics: A nineteenth-century general who saw the Civil War coming, was angry, and did something about it.

11/16/17  //  Commentary

Hargan v. Garza is but one instance in a broader attack on abortion access.

7/1/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

Those who still believe that the Constitution precludes state involvement in promoting religious thought and experience now have some work cut out for them

12/4/17  //  Commentary

Trump isn’t just reckless, and he doesn’t just seem to think he is above the law. He has an authoritarian’s hostility to the very idea of a principled inquiry into the truth.

9/5/18  //  Quick Reactions

Judge Kavanaugh suggested he was faithfully applying parental consent cases in Garza v. Hargan. He's wrong.

5/15/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Courts are important, but they are not the only sun around which all other entities revolve and from which they gain their light

7/27/17  //  Commentary

The case against felon disenfranchisement is overwhelming as a matter of public policy. This matters for the constitutional analysis.

11/30/19  //  Commentary

When the Supreme Court considers an important Second Amendment case this week, it ought to consider a robust conception of the state's interest in regulating firearms. Properly understood, the state's interest in adopting gun laws includes much more than mere empirical studies about how effective gun laws are at preventing wrongful gun deaths.

5/6/20  //  Commentary

The Title VII cases before the Court present a fundamental question: are there really five textualists on the Court? We’ll find out soon.

2/14/19  //  Commentary

Key takeaways from the briefs in the ongoing litigation to "bail-in" Texas under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act

3/30/17  //  Commentary

The Trump Administration's recent reversal on the Dakota Access Pipeline can (and must) be carefully examined in court.

5/24/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Take Care has hosted a symposium on "Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories"—an important new book edited by Melissa Murray, Katherine Shaw, and Reva B. Siegel

6/27/17  //  Commentary

Yesterday's SCOTUS ruling in Hernandez v. Mesa decided one question and punted on two. After explaining what the case decided and what it did not, I'll explain why one of the punts confirms my fear that federal civil rights actions against federal officers are practically a dead letter.

1/25/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason asks Charlie to take us through the mammothly long, massively important opinion from the Southern District of New York invalidating the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Listen now!

7/19/18  //  Commentary

Would Justice Thomas really strike down federal legislation restricting abortion? We may soon find out.

9/28/17  //  Commentary

6/2/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

A draft of the Trump Administration's revised contraception mandate has been leaked. If implemented, this policy would weaken civil rights for women. Moreover, the plan could violate the Establishment Clause by providing a religious accommodation for some private citizens only by shifting costs to others who may not share their beliefs.

1/4/18  //  Uncategorized

On the first episode of Versus Trump of 2018, Jason and Charlie look back at Versus Trump cases in 2017 and score them as Administration wins, losses, or not-yet-decided. They also look ahead at big issues to come in 2018. Listen now!

2/28/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

There are reasons to worry about whether certain liberal justices on the Supreme Court fully appreciate that we are at an inflection point in the history of the Religion Clause

4/19/18  //  Commentary

The Supreme Court should strike down Trump’s travel ban.

6/20/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Carolyn Shapiro & Joanna Martin: Separating parents from their children without regard for the children’s rights and interests is unconstitutional

3/30/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

HHS has recently tried to essentially repeal an important rule that prevents the Department from discriminating across its many programs. But, as contributor Harper Jean Tobin explains, its rule making is both substantively and procedurally illegal.

6/5/19  //  Commentary

By Joel Dodge: The Supreme Court must make a choice: either accept false justifications peddled by government lawyers, or insist upon getting the truth

5/4/17  //  Uncategorized

An executive order to be issued today likely will direct the IRS to exercise “maximum enforcement discretion to alleviate the burden of the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits religious leaders from speaking about politics and candidates from the pulpit.” Here's what that means and why it matters.

9/21/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

A sleeper issue is brought center stage by two leading religious liberty scholars

5/4/17  //  Quick Reactions

President Trump misstates the law, and mischaracterizes his own Executive Order, in the Rose Garden.

3/29/18  //  Quick Reactions

In a recent article, I reflect on what I wish I would have known in law school related to #MeToo.

9/28/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Trump’s potential violations of free speech and press have much in common with his apparent violations of other constitutional limits

11/2/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Daniel I Morales: Can the federal government make it a crime to encourage or induce a noncitizen to illegally enter or reside in the United States?

6/26/18  //  Commentary

Let's not kid ourselves. Today's decision in NIFLA is an ideological decision.

4/24/18  //  Commentary

Both the travel ban case and the Texas redistricting litigation raise questions about the staying power of discriminatory intent.

6/24/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Court has adopted unreflectively the perspective of Christians in a political majority, without regard to the perspective of others

12/11/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

The growing diversity of the country may break Americans’ commitment to democracy. What can we do to stop that from happening?

9/27/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Executive bullying creates a potential taint of illegitimacy, of arbitrariness, that could color the political and moral legitimacy of future governmental actions

2/21/19  //  Commentary

Trump has suggested that SCOTUS will save his national emergency gambit, just like it saved his Muslim Ban. But there are major problems with that analogy.

12/18/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

We asked 10 experts from a variety of disciplines to help us think through strategies for building a stable and inclusive democracy in the face of demographic change. Here’s what we learned.

7/4/19  //  Commentary

This week on Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie are joined by guest host Alexandra Brodsky to discuss the Ninth's Circuit's recent decision that let go into effect major new regulations for the primary federal program dealing with family planning and women's health—a program known as Title X. Listen now!

6/5/17  //  Commentary

Yet another major flaw in the draft contraception rule, which would not only allow employers to drop contraception coverage for *religious* reasons, but would also (without any lawful basis) allow employers who have *moral* objections to do the same.

2/8/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Career attorneys at DOJ rightly refused to sign a deeply flawed brief arguing that Texas should be let off the hook for its repeated intentional efforts to minimize the voting power of its minority population

5/5/17  //  Commentary

Yesterday, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump’s most recent Executive Order, “Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty.” While there has been muted reaction to Trump’s executive order, the FFRF complaint makes two important points that have been mostly unappreciated.

2/27/20  //  Commentary

Many have argued that the law at issue in June Medical does not promote anyone's health. But, looking deeper, Priscilla Smith argues that the state's whole statutory scheme "reflects and entrenches unfounded stereotypes about women."

3/18/17  //  Commentary

Why the Establishment Clause Has Emerged as the Chief Stumbling Block for Trump's Muslim Ban

3/7/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss a new lawsuit from California challenging new regulations regarding Title X, an important federal family planning program. Listen now!

2/27/18  //  Latest Developments

A new lawsuit seeks to protect freedom of speech and equal protection for LGBT people in Mississippi

10/18/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

DOJ's effort to to transform this case into a freedom of speech decision threatens the integrity of First Amendment rights. It should be rejected.

2/24/20  //  Commentary

On March 4, the Supreme Court will hear its first abortion case in several years. In the first entry of our symposium, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky sets up the stakes—and fears that the case is going to end with the five conservative justices allowing severe restrictions on abortion, such as have not been upheld since Roe v. Wade.

3/28/17  //  Commentary

The Muslim Ban litigation does not involve a "revolt of the judges." As proven by a survey of major and minor cases from the legal canon, this litigation involves only the standard fare of judging.

3/25/19  //  Commentary

The government’s brief is at war with itself with respect to the state action and government speech doctrines in the @realdonaldtrump litigation.

10/12/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Easha and Jason discuss the Administration's drastic expansion of the number of companies that may now offer health insurance that does not cover birth control, as well as several lawsuits that were immediately filed challenging these new regulations. Listen now!

9/24/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

What is clear in June Medical Services v. Gee, as with the other antiabortion measures making their way through the courts, is that these targeted regulations of abortion providers have nothing to do with protecting women or their health

9/19/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

By David Strauss: Ideological lower court judges have challenged the Supreme Court by defying its precedent. There is one way for the Court to keep from being put in this position time and again. It should summarily reverse, making clear that only the Court will decide when its own precedent is no longer good law.

6/12/18  //  Commentary

Will SCOTUS minimize its view of religious animus as applied to Muslims, despite having just magnified it as applied to conservative Christians?

7/16/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Zachary D. Clopton: The question whether a nationwide injunction should issue is case-specific and policy-inflected.

5/10/18  //  Commentary

The Supreme Court has held that there's no private right of action to enforce Title VI. But the civil rights laws can still form the basis of a challenge to a waiver allowing states to impose work requirements.

5/13/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The story of reproductive justice extends far beyond courts and involves all the conditions in which individuals make decisions about having and not having children

9/5/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Analysis of the Ninth Circuit's latest travel ban argument (and some personal reflections).

6/22/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling in Matal v. Tam, the government speech doctrine will not swallow the First Amendment.

12/13/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

In the past, we have been too quick to accept compromises of exclusion that stabilized our democracy at the expense of the full citizenship of people of color. We should not do so again.

10/26/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Easha and Charlie have a quick turn-around emergency pod to discuss an ongoing—wait, just now resolved—case filed by a pregnant 17-year-old girl in federal immigration custody who seeks an abortion. Easha and Charlie first talk about the procedural wrangling that this case has wrought and second about the legal claims in the case, which bring them into the exciting worlds of reproductive rights, immigration law, and international relations. Listen now!

3/14/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Supreme Court's decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop offers no warrant for a rampant free exercise exceptionalism, in which the normal rules of constitutional law are suspended or inverted

8/26/17  //  Commentary

This pardon by this most abnormal president threatens the rule of law

12/4/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Conservative legal activists have pushed a sweeping view of the First Amendment’s protection against compelled speech. These new complicity claims should fail.

7/9/18  //  Commentary

Sometimes the oncoming storm is easier to spot than the silver linings.

7/9/19  //  Commentary

Discriminating against an employee because they are transgender violates Title VII in two distinct respects

5/17/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

President Trump's rhetoric draw upon a familiar narrative that pathologizes immigration and immigrant reproduction as a threat while protecting and supporting the nation’s “good” mothers, families, and neighborhood

3/28/18  //  Commentary

We thus live in a strange new world, where bigots serve openly and soldiers are forced into closets.

2/13/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Last week’s Supreme Court stay orders say a lot about how the Court views the substance of the underlying constitutional claims in Dunn v. Ray and June Medical Services v. Gee.

8/29/17  //  Commentary

Like so much of what Trump has done, the Arpaio pardon raises multiple challenges to our constitutional system.

7/31/17  //  Commentary

Despite consensus that criminalizing HIV has little public health effect, is not supported by scientific knowledge of transmission risks, and may violate the Americans with Disabilities, states are still enforcing laws against people living with HIV.

12/7/17  //  Commentary

Robust protection of speech does not require gutting laws that help ensure that all persons—regardless of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation—can buy the good and services they desire, free from discrimination.

5/10/17  //  Commentary

Andrew Sullivan recently criticized gay people who seek to obtain services from those with religious objections to serving them. But Sullivan's criticism fundamentally misunderstands the basic purpose of public accommodations laws and should be rejected.

4/6/17  //  Quick Reactions

The Republicans’ bill to arbitrarily deny grants to family planning programs could be challenged in several ways.

5/20/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Artificial reproductive technology might disestablish the traditional ideas of maternity on which abortion law and discourse rests

7/8/20  //  Commentary

Thousands upon thousands of schoolteachers at religious schools – teachers who are mostly women – have been stripped of protection against anti-discrimination laws. Once again, religious rights trump women’s right to equality.

6/22/19  //  Commentary

By Priscilla J. Smith: Conservatives are hiding behind the abortion debate to attack contraceptive access and getting away with it

9/6/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The zone of interests test shouldn't apply to constitutional claims seeking injunctive relief. But even if it does apply, it doesn't prevent federal defenders from challenging arbitrary limits on attorney access under the Sixth Amendment.

5/17/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Race and class are intricately entwined with laws like the Hyde Amendment, and no advocacy on the issue can ignore this fact

7/7/17  //  Quick Reactions

Three former Surgeons General have called for an end to involuntary medical procedures on intersex babies and children. U.S. immigration law sheds light on why this is such an important development.

1/3/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha comment on several cases addressing whether the Trump Administration may legally expand the number of employers who do not need to provide insurance that includes coverage for contraception. Listen now!

10/24/18  //  Commentary

While bleak, planning to lose is not about conceding defeat. It’s about laying the groundwork for a brighter future and avoiding precedential barriers to that future.

4/23/18  //  Commentary

This post, which highlights an academic paper related to #MeToo, is part of a series on #MeToo, sex discrimination, and possible solutions that amount to more than quick fixes.

1/16/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason, Easha, and Charlie discuss the Trump Administration's new legal opinion regarding the legal status of the Equal Rights Amendment, also known as the ERA. They consider what will happen now that Virginia has become the 38th state to ratify the ERA since 1972. Is it too late, or can Congress do anything to add this amendment to the Constitution? Listen now!

2/5/18  //  Commentary

President Trump's selection of primarily male nominees for a variety of positions will have consequences for the profession in the long run.

6/5/18  //  Commentary

There are times when strategic ducking makes sense practically if not strictly legally

12/23/19  //  Commentary

An HLS Clerkship Blog encapsulates some of the challenges to the profession in light of Trump’s reshaping of the federal judiciary.

8/25/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Why State Anti-Removal Laws are Oppressive and Unconstitutional

4/4/17  //  Commentary

The Vice President’s policy against dining with women reveals some problems with his recent vote to allow states to deny funding to organizations that are devoted to reproductive justice and reproductive health.

3/25/18  //  Quick Reactions

The news that a major law firm is requiring its summer associates to sign agreements to confidentially arbitrate sexual harassment claims underscores why we still need #MeToo.

8/17/17  //  Commentary

We honor Washington and Jefferson despite the fact that they owned slaves, whereas memorials to the likes of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson honor them because they fought for a secessionist movement that had the preservation of slavery as its organizing principle.

2/24/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Bladensburg Cross case has our country on the verge of abandonment of longstanding and hard won principles about the secular character of American government. SCOTUS can and should step back from the brink.

6/13/18  //  Commentary

Robert Post of Yale Law considers the status of free speech objections to serving same-sex couples in light of the Court's opinion.

3/24/17  //  Commentary

The Supreme Court is considering a major constitutional challenge to federal immigration detention policies. Trump’s recent executive orders make that case even more significant.

4/19/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Trump Administration may already have the tools it would need to predict with high accuracy the religious identity of a significant percentage of U.S. citizens and visiting Muslims. And software engineers, not lawyers, may be our first line of alarm and defense.

8/18/17  //  Commentary

A DOJ ADA brief on Coca Cola vending machines is being touted as a change in position on websites. Except it's not.

5/9/17  //  Commentary

In a new op-ed, Erwin Chemerinsky and I argue that the entry ban is unconstitutional because it was driven by animus toward Muslims.

9/27/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Pavan and June Medical Services are both examples of lower courts bending over backwards to avoid the clear command of Supreme Court precedent. Both merit the same treatment from the Supreme Court – summary reversal.

12/14/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Joshua F.J. Inwood: We need a nationwide truth commission that would address the historical legacy of racism in U.S. democracy while focusing on contemporary injustices

6/20/17  //  Commentary

Yesterday's SCOTUS ruling in Ziglar v. Abbasi makes it all but impossible for civil rights plaintiffs to sue federal officials for money damages.

12/10/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Yascha Mounk: We need to develop a shared vision for what such a multi-ethnic society should look like

7/20/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, we discuss the litigation against the newly-created Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, that has Kansas Secretary of State—and repeat defendant in voting rights litigation—Kris Kobach as its now-infamous Vice Chair. Listen now!

3/16/17  //  Commentary

It is time for progressives to embrace federalism and to use Supreme Court precedents protecting states’ rights to fight against Trump administration policies

6/30/17  //  Commentary

Our current political climate makes it especially troubling to imagine the government privileging majority religions over minority ones.

5/11/17  //  Quick Reactions

By Jed Shugerman. Trump is using the Comey firestorm as a smoke screen for a potentially more dangerous move: appointing Kris Kobach vice chair of a new “election integrity” commission, with Mike Pence as chair. Kobach will make it a voter-suppression/vote rigging commission, fomenting anti-immigrant and racist fears.

2/13/19  //  Commentary

While Roberts deserves some praise for his vote last week, the story of this Louisiana law is far from over. And what Roberts does next will tell us a lot—about him and the trajectory of the Court he leads.

6/20/19  //  Commentary

This week on Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss the Ninth's Circuit's recent somewhat cryptic, compromise decision regarding the ban on service by transgender individuals in the military. Listen now!

6/16/20  //  Commentary

Following the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock, it's worth asking: Why has the law been so successful at improving the lives of gay people but much less successful at improving the lives of people of color?

12/7/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Theodore R. Johnson: The formation of a national solidarity is especially suited to the challenge of mitigating the impacts of racism in the United States

6/18/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

The plaintiff is attempting to link two practices that need not be coupled. One is discrimination against Asian Americans. The other is affirmative action.

12/6/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Masterpiece Cakeshop, is not interested in a narrow exemption. Rather, ADF is taking aim at the very legitimacy of LGBT people and legal protections for them.

9/7/17  //  Quick Reactions

And now what? We’re condemned to battle the zombie-like remains of this cruel order as it shuffles about the world for just a few more weeks, ruining lives and embarrassing our tradition of religious liberty.

8/20/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

Especially in light of President Trump’s recent attacks on mail-in voting and the United States Postal Service, Section 2 should be revised to prohibit racial discrimination in voting by the federal government.

6/27/17  //  Commentary

Many commentators have misunderstood the significance of a per curiam ruling by the Supreme Court yesterday.

6/21/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Sirine Shebaya and Johnathan Smith: Trump has never been bashful about his anti-Muslim animus. And he has invoked that animus in creating policies, in defiance of the Constitution.

7/11/18  //  Uncategorized

I want to begin exploring ways in which liberals might try to defend what we value in the coming era of Supreme Court extreme conservatism

4/11/17  //  Quick Reactions

Cutting-edge analysis by Gerry Hebert and Danielle Lang of yesterday's ruling that the controversial Texas Voter ID law was enacted with racially discriminatory intent.

5/14/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

While several of the essays in the edited collection of Reproductive Rights And Justice Stories talk about social movements that have influenced the law, some recent events suggest we should have those discussions without losing our focus on courts themselves

9/12/17  //  Commentary

This would ensure that the novel constitutional questions surrounding the pardon receive full adversarial testing

8/20/17  //  Commentary

No, the First and Second Amendments do not add up to a right to publicly protest while carrying assault rifles.

10/6/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Maybe the whole compelling interest test is misguided in Establishment Clause cases.

10/11/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Mark Joseph Stern: From the NFL to Puerto Rico to the impending ban on transgender troops, Trump uses his “free speech rights” to bully minority communities into silence.

10/7/19  //  Commentary

The Trump Department of Justice has recently started asserting that the federal government has an interest in discrimination, rather than in preventing discrimination

10/31/18  //  Commentary

In rigidly classifying people based on theories of biological determinism, we ignore history at our own peril

6/11/18  //  Quick Reactions

The results of the survey to law firms recruiting on campus shows which firms use mandatory arbitration, and which firms deigned to respond at all.

3/29/17  //  Commentary

The First Amendment makes America great for everyone, not just for citizens.

8/3/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Carolyn Shapiro: Judge Kavanaugh has a troubling and one-sided view of liberty and how to protect it.

6/5/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The responses to our edited volume promise continuing conflict over questions of reproductive justice in federal and state courts—but also highlight new arenas of action in politics, science, and religion

6/30/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Kris Kobach just asked for help building a national voter file in two weeks. That’s massively irresponsible. And it might well be illegal.

4/17/20  //  Quick Reactions

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss last week's election in Wisconsin, include two rulings—one by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and one by the U.S. Supreme Court—that don't hold up very well in light of what occurred. Listen now!

12/17/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

We must develop an affirmative agenda that speaks to the average American’s reasonable expectations about immigration

6/16/17  //  Quick Reactions

President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to lift the stay preventing him from implementing his travel ban. Nelson Tebbe, Micah Schwartzman and I, along with a large group of constitutional law scholars, have filed a brief opposing Trump's motion.

6/19/18  //  Commentary

Calling all the ambulance chasers to address this administration's mistreatment of migrants.

3/1/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Jason, and Charlie check back in with the most politically charged of all Versus Trump suits: the Russia investigation. Listen now!

4/4/17  //  Quick Reactions

AG Sessions’s eleventh-hour effort to avoid a consent decree in Baltimore is indefensible and unmistakably political. The court should not allow it.

4/6/17  //  Commentary

Trump's statements about the revised travel ban overwhelmingly evidence a purpose at odds with the Establishment Clause. And few, if any, of those statements evince actual, substantive national security or foreign affairs objectives that explain the bizarre scope of his order.

3/28/18  //  Commentary

This post, which considers the current Supreme Court term through the lens of #MeToo, is part of a series on #MeToo, sex discrimination, and possible solutions that are more than quick fixes.

6/7/18  //  Quick Reactions

By Nelson Tebbe & Larry Sager: Now is the time to solidify our understanding of Masterpiece, because other wedding vendor cases are still pending in the Supreme Court and in lower courts.

4/5/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Easha discuss lawsuits challenging the Trump Administration's decision to ask a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Listen now!

4/3/17  //  Commentary

Vice President Mike Pence’s policy of not dining with women is unconstitutional. It also suggests how far this administration will go to cut back on anti-discrimination law.

9/16/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

June Medical Services v. Gee is the Supreme Court’s next opportunity to weigh in on women’s constitutional right to decide to end their pregnancies.

2/1/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss an unexpected recent opinion that held that Ravi Ragbir, an immigration activist and alien subject to deportation, had the "freedom to say goodbye" before he could be removed from this country. Listen now!

3/22/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Would it be unconstitutional for a state to abolish marriage as a legal status for everyone?

10/4/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Anti-Muslim animus on the face of the second travel ban requires clear proof that the third one is free of such bigotry.

11/6/17  //  Commentary

By Scott Skinner-Thompson: A federal district court has concluded that President Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military was likely motivated by animus, not readiness.

2/7/19  //  Commentary

The words of the Constitution—along with the history and values that shed light upon the meaning of ambiguous parts of the text—are progressive at their core

10/7/19  //  Commentary

Permitting employers to discriminate against LGBT employees would open to the door to the same kind of discrimination against millions of Americans of faith

7/14/17  //  Commentary

Hundreds of people in wheelchairs, with walkers, and using ventilators protested in Senators’ offices and RNC offices across the country. Many traveled far from their homes, suffered blazing temperatures, and were denied access to bathrooms and elevators, to make their voices heard. And Senators and RNC staff refused to meet them, had them forcibly ejected, and called police to arrest them.

6/19/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Court’s newest member embraces a troubling “both sides” argument

9/23/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Antiabortion lawyers think that they can turn a fact and evidence-based legal standard into an argument against stare decisis, which would advance their ultimate goal of overturning Roe. In June Medical, it is time for the justices to prove them wrong.

6/14/19  //  Quick Reactions

The Ninth Circuit's decision regarding the 'trans ban' has broad implications and marks a vital development in protecting transgender rights under the U.S. Constitution.

11/13/17  //  Commentary

DOJ's conduct in Hargan v. Garza is the clearest example of how this administration wants to use DOJ for political purposes.

10/15/18  //  Commentary

Although Shelby County had a dramatic and immediate real-world impact, its future doctrinal importance is likely minimal.

10/26/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By communicating mainly through Twitter, Trump has asserted the power to define his own political community—and to exclude people from it.

7/31/17  //  Commentary

Several years ago the assertion that Title VII does not prohibit sexual orientation discrimination might have been seen as merely cautious; today it can only be apprehended as reactionary and bigoted

8/9/18  //  Commentary

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and Easha—in her last episode for several months—discuss the fast-moving lawsuit by states against the Trump Administration and Cody Wilson seeking to block distribution of plans for 3D-printed guns. As usual, you can listen online below, and subscribe via this page with any podcast player or here in iTunes.

9/12/19  //  Commentary

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and guest-host Alexandra Brodsky discuss a recent opinion invalidating the FBI's terrorism watch-list. They discuss the implications of the opinion for the Trump administration (and beyond), the merits (and demerits) of the court's reasoning, and all sorts of other cool stuff, including how annoying it is when people think they're important enough to be spied on by the FBI. Listen now!

9/8/17  //  Commentary

Republicans may not be advancing their agenda through legislation, but they're getting it done in other ways.

8/19/19  //  Commentary

Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a proposed rule that would substantially limit enforcement of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. This rule is deeply flawed.

6/4/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Regulatory changes that the Trump-Pence Administration reportedly plans to implement extend well beyond our religious liberty traditions (and beyond accommodations authorized by the Supreme Court)

6/5/17  //  Quick Reactions

Thanks in part to the President's own recent tweets and public comments, the case for concluding that his revised travel ban is unconstitutional has now become overwhelming.

3/26/18  //  Commentary

This post, which addresses non-disclosure agreements, is part of a series on #MeToo, sex discrimination, and possible solutions that are more than quick fixes.

6/5/19  //  Quick Reactions

Recent revelations in the census case at the Supreme Court are also relevant to another case at the Court--partisan gerrymandering.

7/8/19  //  Commentary

According to Justice Kagan, we're all textualists now. What exactly does that mean as we interpret Title VII's ban on discrimination 'because of such individual's . . . sex'?

4/17/20  //  Commentary

By embracing Christian nationalist rhetoric, Secretary of State Pompeo ignores America’s secular constitutional tradition—and undermines the United States’ ability and credibility to promote human rights, pluralism, and the rule of law around the globe.

2/25/20  //  Commentary

In our Symposium on June Medical, Andrew Beck of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project wonders if a decision in this case will leave many Americans with a right to abortion on paper—but not in practice.

11/16/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss a new lawsuit that forces courts to answer the question of whether the federal government needs a warrant to search people's electronic devices at the U.S. border, and they also respond to a discussion on the Supreme Court podcast First Mondays regarding the government's recent filing in the Hargan v. Garza abortion case. Listen now!

4/3/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Today, the Fifth Circuit hears argument in a major case about the future of religious liberty and LGBT rights. The law under review, HB 1523, is flagrantly unconstitutional. And the result of this appeal may profoundly influence Trump's still-evolving policies.

9/26/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Now former DOJ officials are calling him on it.

8/23/18  //  Commentary

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie talk about an unusual and surprising case where the Trump Administration has filed a brief in support of fair housing advocates who have sued Facebook for its part in enabling discriminatory advertising. Listen now!

11/9/17  //  Commentary

You want updates, so we've got updates! On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Easha revisit several important cases and news items that we've previously mentioned so that you have the latest information on them. Listen now!

7/10/17  //  Commentary

As disenfranchisement and voter suppression efforts are on the rise, one partial response is reenfranchisement.

8/25/17  //  Commentary

In the last two weeks, Trump bulldozed through the norm against overt racism

6/30/20  //  Quick Reactions

The Court’s decision in Espinoza is similar to the trajectory of the law of racial discrimination in some respects, it also offers a striking contrast in others

5/6/20  //  Commentary

Even the Supreme Court has been required to take unprecedented steps by closing the building, postponing argument dates, and converting to telephonic hearings. Those impacts should be reflected in all aspects of the Court’s work, including the decisions it renders for the remainder of this term.

11/18/19  //  Commentary

The Supreme Court arguments in the Title VII cases provide a good occasion to revisit how we talk about gender and sexual minorities.

5/20/19  //  Commentary

I clerked for Justice Brennan at the time. Here's how the proposed Equal Rights Amendment affected Roe v Wade and Frontiero v. Richardson.

6/24/20  //  Commentary

The Dreamers’ victory has been celebrated as a sign that the Court is above partisanship and willing to serve as a check on executive branch abuses. But the price of that victory was a defeat for the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.

6/14/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

By Saul Cornell: Although originalists invoke the authority of history, their method is profoundly ahistorical.

3/25/19  //  Commentary

One of the core goals of the Establishment Clause is to stave off developments like Christian nationalism and its hierarchies of citizens. The Bladensburg cross reflects and strengthens this troubling strain in American society.

4/28/20  //  Commentary

On this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss claims by churches that stay-at-home orders violate their religious freedom. Turns out it can be a tough issue! Listen now.

4/7/17  //  Commentary

A letter about how to fix DOJ’s Civil Rights Division simultaneously maintains that we live in a “post-racial world” and urges the Division to take measures that will disenfranchise people of color.

1/15/18  //  Commentary

Racial bias and white privilege both contribute to racism. To our country’s great detriment, Trump has displayed both of them.

4/25/18  //  Commentary

Giving President Trump the benefit of the doubt is one thing. Fictionalizing an account of his motive so as to avoid reaching a certain conclusion is something else.

4/3/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

In the Fourth Circuit travel ban appeal, DOJ contends that the plaintiffs lack standing. But a deeper examination of the Establishment Clause proves that the plaintiffs’ claims must be heard on the merits.

4/6/17  //  Commentary

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a suit alleging that President Trump incited violence against protesters at one of his campaign rallies last year. The bitter irony to Trump's defense is that it seeks to expand free speech rules; usually, he prefers to trash them.

12/6/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

If the baker loses in Masterpiece, could the government compel an African American sculptor to sculpt a cross for a Klan service? No, it could not.

2/25/19  //  Quick Reactions

The concurring opinions in Timbs v. Indiana raise some concerns about how (some of) the Justices would address the Trump administration’s treatment of undocumented minor women.

7/31/17  //  Commentary

There are some notable similarities between the President's announcement that transgender individuals would be banned from military service, and the ban(s) on entry from several Muslim majority countries.

5/30/18  //  Quick Reactions

The Supreme Court's denial of cert in Planned Parenthood v. Jegley raises some concerns.

6/12/17  //  Commentary

The Trump Administration’s expansion of deportation efforts has occurred alongside systematic efforts to strip people caught in the enforcement web of their right to due process.

5/21/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Despite legal efforts to eliminate it, pregnancy discrimination remains rampant. Responses based in liberty, temporary disability, and sex equality arguments have met limited success in courts.

7/1/19  //  Commentary

The Roberts Court has a constitutional blindspot. It consistently ignores the many parts of the Constitution that help preserve and protect a vibrant democracy open to all.

9/19/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Will the President’s own words mean nothing to the Court, even as they mean everything to millions affected by his order?

7/27/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

A recent D.C. Circuit decision created—for the moment, at least—an arguable circuit split on a very important issue.

4/21/17  //  Commentary

A letter about how to fix DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has some interesting parallels to a recent voting rights dissent.

11/21/17  //  Latest Developments

The new approach does not mean the DOJ will no longer make policy. It just means the Department will no longer tell covered entities and protected individuals what those policies are.

1/11/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the outlandish arguments made to prevent undocumented young women from obtaining abortions.

2/8/19  //  Quick Reactions

So no, the abortion right is not safe. But it's not in quite as much immediate danger as one might have thought. And that's not nothing.

12/12/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

Three strategies stand out as a way to defuse and then dismantle reassertions of ethnonationalism

4/13/17  //  Commentary

The Trump administration has enacted several policies to conceal, subvert, or manipulate information. It has retracted a proposal to add LGBTQ identification to the U.S. census and eliminated LGBTQ identification from HHS surveys. These policies and others attempt to deny the existence of a problem by disappearing the (inconvenient) facts.

5/16/19  //  Uncategorized

This week on Versus Trump, Jason and Easha go through a few updates to cases involving Title X, which provides money for family planning; the Administration's policy to have many asylum applicants removed to Mexico; and the controversial border wall. Trump lost one, won one—for now, and hasn't yet gotten a decision in the third. Listen now!

4/19/17  //  Commentary

The Trump administration’s efforts to disguise the facts by not deigning to look for them—and discouraging others from doing so—resemble the United States’ policy on research related to gun violence and gun possession.

6/2/17  //  Commentary

The budget for the Civil Rights Division underscores how the administration will turn a blind eye toward many forms of discrimination while stoking anti-immigrant sentiment.

8/7/17  //  Commentary

By Ian W. Holloway & Jody L. Herman: As the Pentagon decides how to respond to Trump’s mandate, we urge that they consider our rigorous research and the lived experiences of transgender service members and their allies.

2/28/20  //  Commentary

Three leading scholars call Louisana's attempt to deny doctors standing in abortion-related cases "cynical," and they explain why the Court would have to upset decades of well-settled, sensible precedent to agree with Louisiana.

2/22/19  //  Commentary

By Nabihah Maqbool and Sirine Shebaya: There are major problems with the Countering Violent Extremism program. Trump has only made the program worse. It should be winded down for good.

10/4/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

June Medical Services v. Gee involves a Louisiana law that would require abortion providers to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where they perform abortions. SCOTUS has granted review of the constitutionality of that law.

12/18/17  //  Commentary

A district court has stopped the Trump administration's hasty and poorly justified effort to relieve employers of their legal obligation to cover contraception.

10/30/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Thomas C. Berg and Douglas Laycock respond to criticism of their amicus brief in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.

4/5/18  //  Quick Reactions

A wide-ranging, thematic talk at Harvard Law School

4/17/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

The government can't act based on animus toward particular religions. But that's exactly what Trump did.

9/7/18  //  Quick Reactions

By Greg Lipper: At his confirmation hearing, Judge Kavanaugh used the phrase “abortion-inducing drugs" while referring to a case he heard on the DC Circuit. This description of the case is at odds with modern science and suggests his hostility to foundational privacy precedents.

4/8/18  //  Quick Reactions

Some recent updates on law students' organization against mandatory arbitration.

4/11/17  //  Commentary

An exchange of letters between the California Chief Justice and Attorney General Sessions offers valuable lessons for states considering immigrant protective policies that respect human rights and dignity (but might annoy the Trump Administration).

8/17/17  //  Commentary

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, we have an interview about voting laws and litigation with former Hillary for America General Counsel and current voting rights superlawyer Marc Elias. Listen now!

12/8/17  //  Commentary

By Vicki Jackson & Judith Resnik: Upholding the third travel ban out of deference to the President on matters of foreign affairs would be a tragic mistake.

7/10/19  //  Commentary

In this post, I address three of the most frequent objections to holding that Title VII prohibits discrimination based on transgender status

4/11/17  //  Commentary

Even in these strange and trying times, we would like to think that our Attorney General will follow the law while staffing the division of DOJ charged with realizing the Constitution’s promise of a democracy that’s worth a damn—one open to all citizens, regardless of the color of their skin.

3/23/17  //  Commentary

The Attorney General’s embrace of private prisons is a victory for the industry, but it threatens the safety of correctional officers and prisoners.

3/30/17  //  Commentary

President Trump's immigration enforcement policy has massively raised the stakes in Hernandez v. Mesa, where the Supreme Court is considering a cross-border shooting by a U.S. agent.

12/16/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Trump HHS has proposed to repeal important nondiscrimination regulations that apply to healthcare providers and insurance companies. But the Administration's reasoning is deeply flawed.

10/9/17  //  Commentary

There are many ways to protect life, yet we often speak as if restricting abortion is the only way to do so

8/30/17  //  Commentary

Insights from a recent lawsuit about Arizona’s decision to force the Tucson Unified School District to eliminate its successful Mexican American Studies program

5/10/18  //  Commentary

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Easha and Jason reveal their big announcement: we're doing our first ever live show: Saturday, June 9, in DC, as part of the ACS National Convention. After that excitement, they get into a handful of updates about cases about auto emissions, HUD programs, the ban on military service by transgender individuals, and more. Listen now!

10/15/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

In Hernandez v. Mesa, the Supreme Court should hold that victims of cross-border shootings have a cause of action to seek damages against law enforcement officers who violate the Constitution

10/11/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie talk about the fight over Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's potential testimony in an important lawsuit over the census. Listen now!

8/23/17  //  Commentary

What happened in Charlottesville (along with the President's response to Charlottesville) should put to rest the idea that racism is a thing of the past.

10/19/17  //  Quick Reactions

One facet of the government's position in Garza v. Hargan got a laugh at the Supreme Court when the government raised it in another case.

3/26/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The administration has issued a religious exemption rule that collides with the Establishment Clause

1/17/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha hit three topics: the mysterious case of the subpoena to a foreign corporation that may be related to the Mueller investigation; the nomination of William Barr as Attorney General; and the temporal nature of an emergency, as prompted by live listener feedback. Listen now!

6/29/17  //  Commentary

The challenged Arkansas law most certainly violated Obergefell's call for equal access to the constellation of benefits that accompany marriage. The per curiam got it right.

4/27/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

President Trump and Attorney General Sessions hold exceptionally pro-death penalty views. Here's how they might seek to increase use of capital punishment at the federal level, and why any such effort likely would fail.

4/7/17  //  Commentary

Trump's anti-urban rhetoric has fanned the flames of a war by state governments against progressive cities. We see this in battles over sanctuary cities, LGBT rights, gun regulation, employee rights. The time has come for a campaign on behalf of city power.

7/26/17  //  Quick Reactions

Such a blanket prohibition, tweeted out in advance of the Pentagon completing a policy review, is so lacking in credibility that its only motivation seems to be animus towards transgender people.

8/31/17  //  Commentary

Cities need to be recognized as constitutional actors in their own right, worthy of protection and capable of self-determination.

4/18/17  //  Quick Reactions

The ADA Education and Reform Act would undermine ADA compliance and make people with disabilities the involuntary unpaid consultants of the businesses that discriminate against them

4/18/17  //  Commentary

Under President Trump, questions about the role of religion have come to the fore. The Supreme Court was set to decide a major Free Exercise issue this Term, but it now seems that the case is moot.

5/16/18  //  Quick Reactions

Law students' advocacy led to a powerful letter to law firms recruiting on campus from many different law schools.

7/2/18  //  Commentary

In a recent case, the Court suggested that calling out an attempt to use religion to justify harming others was evidence of animus. That’s wrong.

10/11/19  //  Commentary

Even if an employer were to impose a purportedly neutral rule that he did not hire people attracted to the same sex, in practice, that rule would impose two discriminatory sex-based rules

4/3/18  //  Commentary

This post, which addresses enforcement mechanisms, is part of a series on #MeToo, sex discrimination, and possible solutions that are more than quick fixes.

4/22/19  //  Commentary

We recently filed an amicus brief asking the Fifth Circuit to apply the well settled rule that states may not prohibit women from accessing abortions prior to viability.

7/2/19  //  Commentary

There really is nothing the administration can now do that ought to lead to approval of the citizenship question

11/14/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Tom Berg and Douglas Laycock defend a novel theory that could eviscerate civil rights laws

3/29/18  //  Quick Reactions

Some recent organization against mandatory arbitration.

5/30/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

A detailed guide to how and when the Muslim Ban might reach the Supreme Court (and why this question really matters).

5/3/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

It's rumored that tomorrow, Trump will issue an executive order on "religious freedom," singling out for protection only traditional and conservative religious views on sex, marriage, sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy. That order will most certainly raise grave constitutional issues under the Establishment Clause.

4/4/17  //  Commentary

Perceptions of presidential bad faith have given judges the fortitude to do what the law already demands of them, even though their actions might prompt the President to bash them by name on TV or Twitter.

9/21/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

There's reason to be wary of the argument that Congress has to “unambiguously” state funding conditions in the text of statutes.

12/14/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha talk about a defamation lawsuit brought by Summer Zervos, a woman who alleges that she was sexually assaulted by President Trump in a hotel room in 2007. Listen now!

12/5/19  //  Uncategorized

First, real talk: yes, Versus Trump really did get a shoutout at the impeachment hearings on Wednesday! More on that next week. But on this week’s Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss two guns cases. Listen now!

1/29/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Another recent decision from a court of appeals (this time the Fifth Circuit) illustrates how states and courts can undermine women’s right to decide to end their pregnancies without formally overruling the relevant Supreme Court decisions.

4/5/17  //  Commentary

The en banc Seventh Circuit has held that Title VII protects against sexual orientation discrimination. SCOTUS is likely to grant review of this important issue in the near future. But it remains unclear what position the Trump Administration will take.

4/1/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Trump administration (with some success) is making an argument to justify discrimination against transgender persons that would roll back some of the protections against other forms of discrimination as well.

4/16/18  //  Commentary

This post, which highlights an academic paper related to #MeToo, is part of a series on #MeToo, sex discrimination, and possible solutions that amount to more than quick fixes.

6/7/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

A system that threatens to overturn any administrative decision that appears tainted – even harmlessly – by signs of religious bias is one that will inevitably favor religious interests over other concerns

6/23/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

DOJ can't distinguish a case from 1995 in which it took a diametrically opposed view on the relevance of campaign statements.

11/8/19  //  Uncategorized

On this week’s special edition of Uncle Charlie's Sanctions Corner–wait, we mean Versus Trump—Jason, Charlie, and Easha bring on Eileen Connor of the Project on Predatory Student to discuss a major opinion issuing sanctions against the Department of Education. Listen now!

4/12/17  //  Commentary

On the first full day of Passover, the Trump Administration offered several lessons about institutionalized racism and ethnic cleansing.

4/21/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The opinion by then-Justice Rehnquist in Hunter v. Underwood (1985), a case about denying the right to vote for racist reasons, offers thoughtful answers to many of the hardest questions that you might ask about motive and the Muslim Ban.

6/10/19  //  Quick Reactions

My remarks at the UCI Law commencement.

4/13/17  //  Commentary

Given the nativist overtones of his campaign and his administration’s signature policies — from the Muslim ban to an immigration crackdown that equates being a foreign-born minority with criminality — Trump has exploded the fiction that we live in a post-racial society.

6/28/17  //  Commentary

The votes in this case mask very deep divisions on the Supreme Court about Religion Clause and federalism principles.

7/6/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

Congress should decide what happens to the Equal Rights Amendment, not the courts or the Executive Branch.

5/17/18  //  Commentary

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Charlie, and Jason discuss a series of recent rulings that have stopped the Trump Administration from revoking federal grants to entities that have been working to reduce teen pregnancy. Listen now!

7/8/20  //  Commentary

Despite legitimate controversy over the application of the ministerial exception, Morrissey-Berru is a reassuring nod toward the continuity of a principle long rooted in the American tradition of church-state separation.

3/11/19  //  Commentary

The administration’s recent claims about gender violence and the humanitarian crisis at the border underscore the administration’s hypocrisy on issues related to gender.

12/7/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

On this week’s episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha are joined by Take Care publisher Joshua Matz to talk about the Masterpiece Cake Shop oral argument, plus the status of Muslim Ban litigation and the future of Take Care.

6/29/20  //  Quick Reactions

As in prior abortion cases, the Chief Justice gave abortion supporters a victory while at the same time laying the groundwork for much weaker protections for abortion rights.

8/28/17  //  Commentary

DOJ's troubling shift on voting rights rightly failed to save a discriminatory Texas law

3/20/17  //  Commentary

To the extent that Trump’s statements about the travel ban shed light on why the executive orders were issued—and they surely do—those statements are material to the constitutional analysis.

10/16/17  //  Commentary

There are two ways to look at one of the recent lawsuits against the organizers of the Charlottesville rally, the easy way and the right way.

4/20/17  //  Commentary

A diverse group of leading constitutional law scholars—representing many different views about the Establishment Clause—has filed an amicus brief challenging the Muslim Ban. Here's what you need to know.

5/22/19  //  In-Depth Analysis

Reproductive justice advocates have increasingly relied on public health research in legislative and judicial disputes

3/6/18  //  Commentary

The Constitution prohibits the government from accommodating religious practices when doing so entails undue hardship to third parties

3/16/17  //  Commentary

It's time to force Congress back into the conversation about immigration enforcement. Here's how.

7/11/19  //  Commentary

This conclusion follows directly from the statutory text and a brief glance at some dictionaries. Judges who have concluded otherwise based their analysis on faulty premises.

6/1/17  //  Commentary

The Trump Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a massive expansion of the program that provides employers and exemption from providing their employees with contraceptive coverage. But they have not sought notice-and-comment on the rule, and that could be a major problem.

2/27/18  //  Commentary

What would real intermediate scrutiny of firearms regulations look like?

2/22/18  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Easha, Jason, and Charlie discuss what's going on in courts related to gun regulation. They focus on one set of Versus Trump lawsuits in this area: suits by the Gabby Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence requesting any Trump Administration records that would show the influence of the gun lobby on the Administration. Listen now!

12/6/18  //  In-Depth Analysis

The current attacks on democratic institutions are but symptoms of a deeper disease: the lack of full civic participation by the nation’s ordinary residents

3/16/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

Last night, a federal judge in Hawaii blocked Trump's revised entry ban. Here is a detailed analysis of its decision and an assessment of what likely will happen next in that litigation.

5/25/17  //  Commentary

On a new episode of Versus Trump, Take Care's podcast, we discuss the status of G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board, a major case about transgender rights, and then speak with Patti Goldman of Earthjustice about an important lawsuit that her organization has filed.

6/25/18  //  Commentary

The Supreme Court decided two merits cases today and took one extremely puzzling action via a summary order. The unifying theme I'll identify is taint.

7/20/20  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Supreme Court majority's expanding concept of complicity is likely to result in judges acting inconsistently, accommodating sympathetic religious claimants and denying relief to those who are not

3/20/17  //  Commentary

Judge Kozinski thinks that we cannot account for President Trump's campaign statements in the Muslim Ban cases. That is wrong. Courts can, and should, reckon with this history in assessing whether Trump's ban comports with religious neutrality.

2/26/20  //  Commentary

In the third post in our Symposium on June Medical, Professor Mary Ziegler links Louisiana's argument that doctors lack standing to litigate cases related to abortion with a broader shift in litigation tactics by those opposed to abortion. And she wonders whether a reversal of precedent on standing doctrine could lead inevitably to the end of Casey and Roe.

3/16/17  //  Commentary

The president has continued existing policies, but also signaled a misplaced (and dangerous) reliance on immigration enforcement and incarceration to protect the public.

7/17/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

The Fifth Circuit his reversed a preliminary injunction against HB 1523, Mississippi's unusual anti-LGBT "religious freedom" law. Its reasoning is incorrect and at odds with precedent. En banc review is warranted to establish uniformity in the law and vindicate important constitutional principles.

5/9/18  //  Uncategorized

Low-income residents in Michigan’s cities are significantly less able to travel for work than people in rural communities. But Michigan legislators wants to exempt only the latter from their new work requirements. That's both immoral and illegal.

3/16/17  //  Commentary

Justice Jackson's famous separation of powers framework offers no support for President Trump's entry ban. In fact, it's irrelevant.

6/22/17  //  Uncategorized

On a new, interview-only episode of Versus Trump, Take Care's podcast, Jason has an interview with Glenda Aldana Madrid, of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), about a case in which her organization has so far successfully blocked the Administration's attempt to curb the right to counsel in immigration courts. Listen now!

9/4/19  //  Commentary

Various jurisdictions that have banned large-capacity magazines define large-capacity differently. So how many bullets are enough under the Second Amendment?

8/30/17  //  Commentary

It’s time to stop pretending the Executive Branch is going to check Donald Trump.

4/25/18  //  Commentary

Korematsu holds that in a case like this one the obligation to strictly scrutinize invidiously discriminatory policies remains even when the government asserts a facially plausible national security justification.

3/29/17  //  Quick Reactions

The FCC has abandoned its legal defense of a 2015 order that placed new caps on the cost of phone calls placed by prison inmates. This reflects a mentality that will have major effects in prisons and elsewhere.

5/25/17  //  Commentary

Mitch Landrieu’s speech defending the removal of Confederate war monuments in the heart of New Orleans is an eloquent reminder that the Constitution forbids acts that subordinate or denigrate, whether in the context of religion, LGBT rights, or racial equality.

12/5/18  //  Latest Developments

Protect Democracy has asked a diverse set of experts from a variety of disciplines to identify steps that could be taken to advance the prospects of a truly inclusive and multi-racial American democracy

3/29/18  //  Commentary

Where there is smoke, there is usually a fire

4/30/17  //  Daily Update

The Administration sought an extension to negotiate over the Affordable Care Act's birth control provisions, and it hired a State Department spokesperson who has a history of anti-Muslim rhetoric.

4/16/17  //  Daily Update

This week on Take Care, Eve Hill explained that criminal justice reform cannot succeed without accounting for disability rights.

4/30/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump's proposed budget would significantly hurt people of color.

8/24/17  //  Daily Update

Commentary on President Trump's response to white supremacist violence in Charlottesville continued.

10/21/17  //  Daily Update

Sen. Feinstein argues Congress must act to close the loophole for bump stocks, used in the Las Vegas shooting, in the Firearms Owners Protection Act.

2/11/18  //  Daily Update

The Nunes memo set off aftershocks; agencies scrambled to implement the Trump Administration's policies to mixed effect; and Congress passes a budget after a brief overnight shutdown.

3/16/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump Administration has already taken extraordinary steps to undermine reproductive rights. Here are some useful analyses of the story thus far.

5/14/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump's appointments and judicial nominations could be an attack on reproductive rights.

8/6/17  //  Daily Update

The D.C. Circuit struck down D.C.'s 'good reason' conceal and carry law.

6/25/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump's judicial nominees raise serious concerns for LGBT advocates, and AG Sessions may prove unwilling to defend LGBT rights.

10/21/17  //  Daily Update

A lawsuit filed against the organizers of the Charlottesville rally is a serious suit and deserves to be covered as such. The FBI may be scrutinizing activities of black activists.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump’s proclamation marking World Autism Awareness Day angered autism activists by aspiring to “cure autism."

4/23/17  //  Daily Update

The New York Times argued that the federal courts will be the last resort for LGBT progress during this Administration. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign argued the Administration should stand against the Chechen human rights abuses toward gay men.

4/2/17  //  Daily Update

Vice President Pence cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate on Thursday removing a procedural obstacle to repealing Obama-era Title X family planning funding. A proposed executive order aimed at religious liberty has profound constitutional infirmities.

5/14/17  //  Daily Update

A fight is brewing in Congress over the reauthorization of one of the country's most significant surveillance laws.

9/17/17  //  Daily Update

Trump's decision to end DACA spurs a flurry of legal challenges; his election fraud commission gets into more trouble; and the Supreme Court stays the Ninth Circuit's latest trvel ban ruling.

8/20/17  //  Daily Update

New regulations may allow even private businesses to opt out of contraception coverage.

12/24/17  //  Daily Update

The fact that raising the issue of ownership of semiautomatic weapons in a confirmation hearing caused the nomination to be put on hold is a sad development. DOJ officials indicated they cannot regulate sales of gun bump ammunition stocks absent Congressional guidance, but momentum for gun control is quickly waning in Congress.

1/14/18  //  Daily Update

Customs officers searched an estimated 30,200 cellphones, computers and other electronic devices of people entering and leaving the United States last year, up 60 percent from 2016.

6/4/17  //  Daily Update

The Department of Education revived an online resource this week to provide information on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, months after the old version crashed. Advocates had sharply criticized the administration for the site’s lengthy absence.

6/11/17  //  Daily Update

Senator Tom Cotton seeks to make Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act permanent.

8/24/17  //  Daily Update

DOJ continues to support the position that websites are covered by Title III of the American Disabilities Act.

3/26/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump's "alternative facts" spread to the abortion debate.

7/16/17  //  Daily Update

The Legal Defense Fund filed a FOIA request seeking information on the Department of Education's policing of race- and disability-based discipline disparities in school.

8/6/17  //  Daily Update

The White House met with evangelical leaders.

4/2/17  //  Daily Update

The male-dominated Trump Administration has targeted women's health legislation.

6/11/17  //  Daily Update

A federal district court ruled that the Supreme Court's ban on plaza demonstrations does not violate RFRA.

9/24/17  //  Daily Update

The Department of Defense issued guidance that transgender troops currently serving in the military can re-enlist; Senator McCain continues to oppose President Trump's ban on transgender service members. President Trump's judicial nominees believe LGBT rights should be rolled back.

6/18/17  //  Daily Update

The Department of Commerce has excluded sexual orientation and gender identity from its 2017 Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

1/14/18  //  Daily Update

President Trump’s nomination of Howard Nielson, Jr. to the federal bench is an attack on LGBTQ rights.

10/21/17  //  Daily Update

Although DOJ will assist in the prosecution of a man charged with murdering a transgender teenager in Iowa, reportedly at the urging of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, commentators argue this action does not alter Sessions's assault on LGBT rights.

7/16/17  //  Daily Update

The most recent version of the Republican healthcare bill, like its predecessors, threatens to "defund" Planned Parenthood.

10/1/17  //  Daily Update

The Second Circuit seemed hostile to the administration's anti-gay position during oral arguments in the pending Title VII case.

9/10/17  //  Daily Update

The President orders an end to DACA and has Attorney General Jeff Sessions announce the change; Trump Jr.'s June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer undergoes more scrutiny; Trump's 16 nominations to the federal judiciary spur challenges and concern.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

The FCC repealed broadband privacy regulations, but Orin Kerr notes that the Wiretap Act provides a substantial check on privacy incursions by broadband providers. In response to "extreme vetting," Members of Congress introduced legislation banning warrantless cellphone searches at the border.

10/8/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump administration is pushing a FISA reauthorization before the surveillance law sunsets in December.

4/23/17  //  Daily Update

As part of their Information Wars Series, Leah Litman and Helen Klein Murillo argue that the Administration is pursuing a dangerous "don't investigate-so-you-can-deny" policy with gun violence research.

3/16/17  //  Daily Update

Since Trump's election, the privacy rights of foreigners (and in some cases of U.S. citizens) have grown still more precarious. Here are some useful analyses of the story thus far.

1/28/18  //  Daily Update

Advocacy groups sued the Department of Education over its sexual assault guidance. HHS's new religious freedom division constitutes a new attack on women's health, wrote Jamille Fields at The Hill.

12/4/17  //  Daily Update

An Ohio court suggested that a ban on firearms in a restraining order may violate the Second Amendment.

10/8/17  //  Daily Update

Civil rights groups are preparing to challenge the administration's decision to halt the equal pay rule.

8/13/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump Administration's proposed ban on transgender military service is not supported by science, and has drawn legal challenges from LGBTQ rights groups and service members.

10/8/17  //  Daily Update

The administration voiced its support for a ban on abortions after twenty weeks. The ACLU is suing the FDA over restrictions on medication used for abortions.

12/4/17  //  Daily Update

This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Masterpiece Cakeshop, a case invoking the conflict between religious beliefs and non-discrimination ordinances.

3/26/17  //  Daily Update

RIchard Thompson Ford argued that President Trump's command that female employees "dress like women" is unworthy of the Presidency, while President Trump's budget blueprint may signal drastic cuts to programs under the Violence Against Women Act.

4/16/17  //  Daily Update

On Monday, a federal judge in Texas found discriminatory purpose behind the Texas Voter ID law. On Take Care, Joshua Matz and Leah Litman argued that the Trump Administration's plans for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division raise grave concerns. Nikolas Bowie explained that the internal review of the Civil Rights Division's consent decrees threatens its value as an unbiased source. Danielle Lang noted that courts are still rooting out racial discrimination behind state laws relating to districting and voter identification, despite a shift by the Department of Justice.

3/26/17  //  Daily Update

Top law enforcement officials missed key issues about incidental surveillance of Americans. Incognito messaging by federal employees may raise legal questions.

5/14/17  //  Daily Update

The American Health Care Act is particularly harmful for people with disabilities.

10/8/17  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed the Obama-era DOJ position that Title VII bans discrimination against transgender workers.

11/27/17  //  Daily Update

Advocates oppose President Trump's recent nominee to the D.C. Circuit. A federal judge blocked the administration's ban on transgender service members in the military.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

This week Leah Litman analyzed the constitutional arguments against H.J. Res. 43, the bill that would allow states to deny federal grants to women's health care programs. Leah also commented on Vice President Pence's dining policy, and its potential ramifications for reproductive justice and anti-discrimination.

4/16/17  //  Daily Update

This week, President Trump signed into law a bill that allows states to deny funding to Title X clinics. Leah Litman analyzed possible legal challenges to the bill on Take Care.

8/6/17  //  Daily Update

The DOJ filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit arguing that Title VII does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Commentary continued on President Trump's transgender military service ban.

11/19/17  //  Daily Update

The House passes its version of a tax bill that would dramatically alter the tax code as President Trump faces trouble over the diversity of his federal judicial nominees and the fitness of his appointees to office, some of whom have alleged conflicts of interest.

10/8/17  //  Daily Update

The NAACP is preparing to sue the Commerce Department over preparations for the 2020 census.

6/4/17  //  Daily Update

Federal courts ruled this week that transgender rights are protected under Title IX and under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Meanwhile, President Trump remained silent on the violence targeted at gay men in Chechnya, even as the new French president spoke out strongly in meetings and a news conference with Vladimir Putin.

10/8/17  //  Daily Update

Calls for stricter gun regulations followed the devastating mass shooting in Las Vegas, while the White House said it was too soon to discuss such measures.

5/14/17  //  Daily Update

Critics of anti-discrimination laws regarding public accommodations misunderstand the overarching purpose of those laws. Further, the decision not to collect LGBT census data could be a missed opportunity for improving the lives of LGBT Americans.

4/23/17  //  Daily Update

The recent law allowing states to pull funding from organizations such as Planned Parenthood will particularly hurt undocumented women. And the march for science represents a march for reproductive justice against unscientific TRAP laws and crisis pregnancy centers.

3/27/17  //  Daily Update

A leaked draft of the Administration's proposed executive order on religious liberty.

1/14/18  //  Daily Update

Texas argues in court that undocumented women seeking abortions have no substantive due process rights. The Trump Administration maintains its blanket policy and prevents another undocumented minor from getting an abortion.

8/20/17  //  Daily Update

The violence in Charlottesville raises questions about the First Amendment and domestic terrorism. The President's responses drew sharp and widespread criticism from public officials and corporate leaders.

4/23/17  //  Daily Update

"Big data" may already provide the necessary technology to create a Muslim registry covertly.

1/28/18  //  Daily Update

A year after President Trump's reinstatement of the global gag rule, banning U.S. funding to foreign organizations that promote or provide abortion, advocacy groups report significant harms to health services. HHS's new religious freedom division constitutes a new attack on women's health, wrote Jamille Fields at The Hill.

5/7/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump released a new religious freedom executive order to widespread criticism and concern.

1/21/18  //  Daily Update

The week began with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and ended with a government shutdown on the anniversary of President Trump's inauguration.

11/5/17  //  Daily Update

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's ban on transgender military service, and commentators discussed the administration's position in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.

10/21/17  //  Daily Update

Contrary to Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein's recent speech, encryption is not just a weapon, but a shield.

5/14/17  //  Daily Update

Analysts argue that President Trump’s executive order on religious liberty advances his discriminatory agenda.President Trump’s executive order on religious liberty advances his discriminatory agenda.

7/16/17  //  Daily Update

Commentary continued on the call by several former Surgeon Generals to ban involuntary surgery on intersex children.

4/16/17  //  Daily Update

A group calling itself the Shadow Brokers dumped a cache of stolen NSA hacking tools on Saturday, a leak Grayson Clary found rather underwhelming.

6/11/17  //  Daily Update

Secretary of Education Betsy Devos refuses to answer whether her department will refuse federal funding to private schools that discriminate against LGBT students.

3/16/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump Administration's education and healthcare policies may undermine disability rights in key respects. Here are some useful analyses of the story thus far.

5/4/17  //  Daily Update

8/20/17  //  Daily Update

The Pentagon has not yet banned transgender service members in the military. There is now a Circuit split on the issue of whether Title VII covers discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

10/31/17  //  Daily Update

Proposed changes to the ADA may make the statute extremely difficult to enforce.

4/2/17  //  Daily Update

A potential executive order addressing religious freedom has surfaced, and Ira Lupu and Robert Tuttle argue that it has profound constitutional infirmities. President Trump's appointment of Roger Servino within the Department of Health and Human Services has drawn criticism from LGBTQ groups.

7/9/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump’s nominee to head the Civil Rights Division of DOJ has come under criticism for his record on LGBT rights and defense of workplace discrimination policies.

5/14/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump’s statements questioning the constitutionality of providing federal funding to historically black colleges and universities could seriously threaten these institutions.

6/11/17  //  Daily Update

There was much analysis of the Administration's proposed rule on contraceptive coverage after the full document was made public.

2/25/18  //  Daily Update

Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed a new charge against Paul Manafort while Richard Gates pled guilty. Meanwhile, President Trump's proposal to arm teachers drew controversy in Washington.

4/30/17  //  Daily Update

The nominee for Army Secretary has a strong anti-LGBTQ track record, and President Trump has targeted national monuments, including the Stonewall Inn.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a nationwide review of consent decrees implemented to curb civil rights abuses. Chiraag Bains offered analysis of the Department of Justice's request to delay a hearing on a consent decree regarding the Baltimore police force.

8/24/17  //  Daily Update

Lambda Legal is suing the Trump administration to release documents related to the reversal of the administrative guidance that permits transgender students to use the bathroom corresponding with their gender identity.

12/4/17  //  Daily Update

This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Masterpiece Cakeshop, a case invoking the conflict between religious beliefs and non-discrimination ordinances.

11/12/17  //  Daily Update

As the GOP attempts tax reform, the Mueller investigation keeps heating up, as does Trump's rhetoric on North Korea.

6/18/17  //  Daily Update

Jessica Mason Pieklo of Rewire argues that the Administration's actions have not ended litigation challenging the ACA's birth control benefit.

6/4/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump administration proposed a rule that would undermine the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit. Meanwhile, an advocate argued against framing abortion as an economic issue.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

Joshua Matz offered analysis of a Mississippi "religious freedom" law on Take Care, while a DoJ memorandum "gives new emphasis to combating religious hate crimes."

6/18/17  //  Daily Update

The National Women's Law Center sues the Department of Education for failing to provide information on its enforcement of sexual-harassment complaints.

4/23/17  //  Daily Update

Eve Hill, on Take Care, argued that the Administration's focus on privatizing public education threatens the rights of students with disabilities and the ADA Education Reform Act will thwart compliance with the ADA.

12/4/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump shared videos from a fringe British ultranationalist party purportedly showing Muslims committing acts of violence. The tax bill poses a serious threat to diversity in academia.

8/6/17  //  Daily Update

The DOJ signaled its intention to initiate investigations targeting affirmative action programs.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

The Seventh Circuit broadened workplace rights for LGBT employees in an en banc decision. Take Care featured analysis from Joshua Matz. President Trump's proposed budget would cut tens of millions of dollars in HIV research and prevention.

11/5/17  //  Daily Update

Notre Dame University ended contraception coverage for students and staff after the Trump administration rolled back the contraception coverage mandate under the Affordable Care Act.

4/9/17  //  Daily Update

This week on Take Care, Leah Litman offered analysis of H.J. Res. 43, the bill that would allow states to deny federal grants to women's health care programs. Other commentators looked to the future of reproductive freedom under the Trump administration.

1/14/18  //  Daily Update

The Justice Department rescinds several guidance documents clarifying the implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act, leading to worry amongst disability rights advocates. After a yearlong investigation, the Department of Education orders Texas to correct violations in services to disabled students.

3/26/17  //  Daily Update

This week, commentators debated the constitutional basis for a federal concealed carry reciprocity mandate.

3/21/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump Administration has made a damaging turnabout on gay rights, and LGBT communities fear an absence of hate crime prosecutions under Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

8/24/17  //  Daily Update

Commentators argued that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s campaign to roll back Title IX reforms is built on a campaign of misinformation.

6/11/17  //  Daily Update

Disability advocates rallied across the country to protest the Administration's proposed budget cuts to Medicaid.

11/26/17  //  Daily Update

DOJ announced plans to investigate Harvard's admissions policies. Attorney General Sessions indicated that DOJ will no longer offer binding administrative guidance to any groups or entities aside from executive agencies.