All articles tagged with #constitutional law
Matt Damon’s SNL spoof of Brett Kavanaugh imagines a “sike” Constitution that supposedly lets Trump run for a third term, a sharp commentary on how some Americans view the Supreme Court’s role and a piece that went viral for lampooning contemporary constitutional interpretations.
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that the Trump administration’s cancellation of more than 1,400 National Endowment for the Humanities grants was unconstitutional, barred the Department of Government Efficiency from terminating the funding, and found that using AI to classify DEI-related projects amounted to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination under the First and Fifth Amendments.
In a rare joint appearance, Supreme Court Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Brett Kavanaugh debated the court's use of emergency orders that let parts of President Trump's agenda advance, with Jackson criticizing what she called an uptick in early, policy-driven interventions and Kavanaugh cautioning about the complexity of such cases and the limits of lower-court rulings.
A divided DC Circuit panel refused to pause the Trump administration’s move to end Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status, leaving protections and work authorization in place for about 350,000 Haitians while lawsuits proceed, with judges warning that returning Haitians could expose them to violence and limited access to medical care.
At oral arguments, the Court signaled potential limits to the federal drug-gun ban, questioning how marijuana use, dosage, and historical justification should govern when someone can own a firearm in Hemani’s case.
A circulated draft executive order proposes declaring a national emergency to let the president assume control over U.S. elections. Legal experts say such powers would be unconstitutional; the White House denies involvement, and the draft is riddled with errors and dubious citations.
A Florida lawyer's memo arguing the president could use the National Emergencies Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency and seize U.S. elections was ridiculed by legal experts, who say IEEPA targets foreign threats and economic actions, not elections run by the states. The plan would not authorize seizing voting machines or mail ballots, conflicts with the Elections Clause, and rests on flawed readings of Youngstown, making it legally flawed and unconstitutional.
The article explains that removing Prince Andrew from the UK and Commonwealth line of succession is legally possible but would require a coordinated, multi-parliament process across realms. It traces how changes to succession have happened before (UK’s 2013 reform and post‑1920 dominion adjustments) and outlines how Australia and other realms would need to pass matching legislation to maintain a unified throne. Unilateral action by a single realm is unlikely given constitutional constraints and the need for cross‑realm agreement to avoid fracturing the shared monarchies.
The Trump administration issued a memo expanding ICE authority to detain legal refugees awaiting green cards, allowing detention during a one-year post-admission re-vetting period to ensure security. Critics call the policy a reckless reversal that harms thousands, while supporters say it aligns post-admission vetting with other admissions; the move follows rising ICE detentions and comes after a Minnesota court blocked related refugee enforcement.
A divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (2-1) upheld the Trump-era policy of detaining non-citizens arrested in immigration crackdowns without bond hearings, covering Texas and Louisiana. The ruling, the first appellate endorsement of the policy, comes despite hundreds of lower courts ruling it unlawful and could affect thousands of detainees as the issue may eventually reach the Supreme Court.
A U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals panel lifted an injunction blocking Trump-era executive orders to end DEI programs in federal agencies and contractor work, ruling that the policies cannot be challenged in a broad, head-on way but may be attacked based on how they are applied to specific grant recipients, preserving room for further district-court challenges on enforcement.
Garrett Epps argues that Trump’s Minneapolis ICE crackdown runs into established anti-commandeering doctrine and the Constitution: federal officials cannot coerce states or localities to enforce federal immigration policy, and funding threats cannot legally force compliance. Courts have largely blocked such coercion, framing it as an overreach of federal power, while the administration pursues aggressive enforcement and protests around ICE actions. The dispute foregrounds a broader federalism debate over immigration policy and civil liberties, with the Supreme Court likely to weigh in eventually.
The chief judge of Minnesota’s federal court ordered acting ICE director Todd Lyons to personally appear in court on Friday to explain why the agency has not complied with dozens of court orders, including missing a detainee’s bond hearing. Judge Patrick Schiltz said Lyons could be held in contempt and would cancel the hearing if the detainee is released, as protests over ICE tactics persist amid critics of the Trump immigration crackdown following fatal enforcement actions earlier this month.
Reuters explains the potential legal exposure for ICE officers in two January Minneapolis shootings, outlining when state or federal prosecutors could bring charges, how immunity and use‑of‑force standards apply, possible defenses (self‑defense or reasonableness), whether victims’ families could sue under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and the hurdles in proving unlawful intent or reckless disregard amid disputed footage.
An FBI agent named Tracee Mergen has resigned after attempting to probe the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month, according to the New York Times citing sources. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was killed in her car by ICE agent Jonathan Ross.