Court questions White House employer vaccine mandate

Headline UNITED STATES: Supreme Court and vaccine mandate

Biden's commission on the Supreme Court finishes work

Headline UNITED STATES: Supreme Court Commission finishes work

Recent Legal Developments: Criminal Justice Decisions of the United States Supreme Court, 2,020 Term

In this paper we review and analyze the criminal justice-related decisions of the 2,020 term of the United States Supreme Court. We also provide a summary of the Court’s voting patterns and opinion authorship. Thirteen of the Court’s 57 decisions touched on criminal justice. There were significant decisions involving the Fourth Amendment, the Eighth Amendment, and federal criminal statutes. Each of these is discussed in turn.

Nestlé United States, Inc. v. Doe. 141 S. Ct. 1931.

On June 17, 2021, the United States Supreme Court reversed and remanded a suit filed against Nestlé USA and Cargill under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) for lack of jurisdiction. This case has already garnered attention over the nature of the dispute (child slaves in Africa), the Supreme Court's treatment of jurisdiction under the ATS, and the finding shared by five of the nine Supreme Court justices that domestic corporations can potentially be sued under the ATS. This analysis focuses on the child slavery and global supply chain aspects of the decision.

James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, and the “Radically Irresponsible” One Person, One Vote Decisions

James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock took a keen interest in the United States Supreme Court’s reapportionment decisions of the 1960s, which established a “one person, one vote” standard for state legislative apportionment. This paper traces the long arc of Buchanan and Tullock’s opposition to the “one person, one vote” standard. The Calculus of Consent offers a highly qualified efficiency argument against “one person, one vote,” but over time Buchanan and Tullock grew even more vocally critical of the decisions. Buchanan ultimately advocated a constitutional amendment overturning “one person, one vote” in a private set of recommendations to Congressional Republicans. This paper additionally assesses Tullock’s 1987 complaint that scholars and judges neglected The Calculus of Consent’s analysis of reapportionment. A review of the reapportionment literature between 1962 and 1987 demonstrates that while the book was frequently cited, the literature generally ignored its analysis of the efficiency of apportionment standards.

US Supreme Court will hear a contentious abortion case

Headline UNITED STATES: Supreme Court will hear abortion case

National Security, Leaks and Freedom of the Press

The United States Supreme Court made a landmark decision in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971, concerning how government should balance its legitimate need to conduct its operations—especially those related to national security—in secret, with the public’s right and responsibility to know what its government is doing. The Pentagon Papers decision, though, left many important questions still unresolved and the circumstances that undergirded the system initiated by the decision have changed fundamentally in recent decades. Difficult problems call for a range of different perspectives. In this book, Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone gather an array of remarkable, wise, and accomplished individuals to share their deep and broad expertise in the national security world, journalism, and academia. Each essay delves into important dimensions of the current system to explain how we should think about them, and to offer as many solutions as possible. A rigorous and serious analysis, this volume examines the incredibly complex and important issues that our nation must continue to address and strive to resolve as we move into the future.

Introduction

The Denning Law Journal Team is very pleased to bring you the 2020 edition. In a year of unprecedent challenges and changes, we would especially like to extend our thanks to our contributors who have provided an outstanding collection of articles, comments and book reviews. We also note the passing of a distinguished jurist, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. She was the second woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court and is noted as a proponent of civil liberties. This edition of the Denning Law Journal is dedicated to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the legacy of her work in safeguarding and promoting civil liberties.