Citation: 53 U.S. 299 (1851) One-Sentence Takeaway: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Pennsylvania law requiring ships entering the port of Philadelphia to hire local pilots or pay a fee, ruling that states may regulate aspects of interstate commerce (like pilotage) that are local in nature and do not require uniform national regulation, thereby establishing the […]
Category: Constitutional Law
Locke v. Davey
540 U.S. 712 (2004). One-Sentence Takeaway: The Free Exercise Clause does not require states to fund religious instruction even when they fund comparable secular studies. Summary: In Locke, the Supreme Court rejected a free exercise challenge to a Washington state law that barred state scholarship aid from being used for a devotional theology degree. Although the […]
Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind
474 U.S. 481 (1986). One-Sentence Takeaway: Providing a state vocational rehabilitation grant to a blind student studying for the ministry did not violate the Establishment Clause, as the aid was neutral and directed by individual choice rather than government endorsement of religion. Summary: A 1986 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in which the Court unanimously held […]
Article III Courts
Article III courts are federal courts in the United States, of various types including the Supreme Court, the District Court and the Court of Appeals. Article III of the U.S. constitution provides guidance in relation to these federal courts, most of which are located in large U.S. cities. They may also be known as constitutional […]
Anti-SLAPP Statute
California’s anti-SLAPP statute (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 425.16) provides for special motions to strike complaints that arise from certain protected activity.1 In 1992, in response to the “disturbing increase” in meritless lawsuits brought “to chill the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of freedom and speech and petition for the redress of grievances,” the […]
Batson v. Kentucky
476 U.S. 79 (1986) A 1986 United States Supreme Court opinion in which the Court held that the Equal Protection Clause forbids a prosecutor from using preemptory challenges against potential jurors solely on account of said potential jurors’ race, or on the assumption that African American jurors as a group will be unable impartially to […]
Batson Challenge
A Batson challenge is a challenge filed by a defense attorney in a criminal trial in which the defense contends that the prosecutors in the case struck potential jurors during jury selection in a racially discriminatory manner. If the defense is able to make a preliminary showing that the prosecutor’s actions appear to be race-based, […]
Austin v. United States
509 U.S. 602 (1993). A United States Supreme Court opinion in which the Court reviewed for the first time the issue of whether the constitutional limitations of the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment should be applied to in rem civil forfeitures — specifically, drug-related forfeitures of property authorized under 21 U.S.C. §§ 881(a)(4) and (a)(7). The majority, guided by […]
American Legion v. American Humanist Association
588 U.S. ___ (2019). A 2019 United States Supreme Court opinion in which the Court held that, since the Peace Cross (a World War I memorial shaped after a Latin cross) had stood for decades without any controversy, it did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. REFERENCE DESK Perrier-Bilbo v. United States, […]