Analysis and Commentary Posted in 2015-08
Locating the Problem of Race-Based Peremptory Challenges in a Broader Context: The Possibilities Raised by the Foster Case on the Court’s Docket
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University of Illinois law professor and dean Vikram David Amar describes the problem of race-based peremptory challenges and argues that peremptory challenges be eliminated altogether on the grounds that we should not allow a person to be denied the right to serve on a jury for any reason that would not also suffice as a reason to deny that person the right to vote in an election.

People Born in the United States Are Properly Citizens
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Cornell University law professor Michael Dorf discusses Donald Trump’s call to end birthright citizenship as part of immigration reform. Dorf argues that birthright citizenship implements widely shared and characteristically American values and that curtailing it would be a huge step backwards.

Jared Fogle, Ashley Madison, and When Will We Have the Fences that Make for Privacy and Safety on the Internet?
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Cardozo Law professor Marci Hamilton discusses the need for effective fences on the Internet that protect privacy but also permit authorities to enforce the law. Hamilton illustrates this need using examples such as the case of Jared Fogle, the former Subway spokesperson who is pleading guilty to charges of child solicitation and pornography, as well as the Internet's use as a tool for empowerment for victims of child sex abuse.

The Sixth Circuit Says No to “Butt Dial” Privacy
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Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb analyzes a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holding that when a person with a cellphone inadvertently calls a third party, thereby exposing personal communications, the caller retains no reasonable expectation of privacy in the matters disclosed for purposes of the federal Wiretap Act.

An Avoidable Human Rights Disaster in the Dominican Republic
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George Washington law professor and economist Neil Buchanan discusses the ongoing human rights disaster in the Dominican Republic stemming from that country’s treatment of Haitians. Buchanan argues that the United States should withdraw financial support for the Dominican Republic’s security forces in order not to provide support for human rights violations.

UC Story: Parting Reflections as I Transition Away From the University of California
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Law professor and dean designate of the University of Illinois College of Law Vikram David Amar reflects on his tenure as a professor and administrator at the University of California. While Amar extols the University as being the greatest public university system in the world, he highlights a few challenges that it faces as it moves forward.

Federal District Court Invalidates Idaho “Ag-Gag” Law
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Cornell University law professor Michael Dorf discusses the implications of a recent decision by a federal district court invalidating an Idaho law that criminalizes entering a “agricultural production facility” under false pretenses and also criminalizes creating an audio or video recording of what takes place there without authorization from the owners—known as an Ag-Gag law.

The Unending Task of Debunking Social Security Fear-Mongering
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George Washington law professor and economist Neil H. Buchanan debunks some of the Social Security myths spread by many conservative politicians. Specifically, Buchanan makes the following arguments: (1) Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme, (2) Demographics will not overwhelm social security, (3) the Social Security trust fund is more than simply “worthless paper” and we are not better off investing it on our own, and (4) Social Security will not go broke in the coming decades.

The Hijacking of the Term “Religious Liberty” for Political Gain
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Cardozo law professor Marci Hamilton explains how politicians have intentionally conflated constitutional religious liberty—which comes from the First Amendment of the Constitution—and statutory religious liberty—which originated in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993—for political gain. Hamilton describes the many differences between these two types of religious liberty and calls upon politicians and journalists to disambiguate the term.

What Reactions to the Undercover Planned Parenthood Video Tell Us About Our Values
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Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb draws upon the outrage many people felt in response to a video allegedly showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal body parts and tissue from abortions (video that was subsequently revealed to be edited so as to be intentionally misleading) in order to discuss a different area in which tissue and parts are bought and sold without evoking such broad outrage.

Meet our Columnists
Vikram David Amar

Vikram David Amar is a Distinguished Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law and a Professor of Law and Former Dean at the University of Illinois College of Law on the Urbana-Champaign campus.... more

Neil H. Buchanan

Neil H. Buchanan, an economist and legal scholar, is a visiting professor at the University of Toronto Law school. He is the James J. Freeland Eminent Scholar Chair in Taxation Emeritus at the... more

John Dean

John Dean served as Counsel to the President of the United States from July 1970 to April 1973. Before becoming White House counsel at age thirty-one, he was the chief minority counsel to the... more

Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell University Law School. He has written hundreds of popular essays, dozens of scholarly articles, and six books on constitutional... more

Samuel Estreicher

Samuel Estreicher is Dwight D. Opperman Professor of Law and Director of the Center of Labor and Employment Law and Institute of Judicial Administration at New York University School of Law. He... more

Leslie C. Griffin

Dr. Leslie C. Griffin is the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Boyd School of Law. Prof. Griffin, who teaches constitutional law and bioethics, is known for... more

Joanna L. Grossman

Joanna L. Grossman is the Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and Law at SMU Dedman School of Law and is currently serving as the Herman Phleger Visiting Professor at Stanford Law School. ... more

Marci A. Hamilton

Professor Marci A. Hamilton is a Professor of Practice in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the founder and CEO of CHILD USA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit academic think... more

Joseph Margulies

Mr. Margulies is a Professor of Government at Cornell University. He was Counsel of Record in Rasul v. Bush (2004), involving detentions at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station, and in Geren v. Omar... more

Austin Sarat

Austin Sarat is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College.Professor Sarat founded both Amherst College’s Department of Law,... more

Laurence H. Tribe

Laurence H. Tribe is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University and Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, where he has taught since 1968. Born in... more

Lesley Wexler

Lesley Wexler is a Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law. Immediately prior to taking the position at Illinois, Wexler was a Professor of Law at Florida State University,... more