Dissimilarities Between Scalia and Thomas In the post-Ronald Reagan era of the Supreme Court of the United States, two of the most preeminent jurists of conservative persuasion have been the Associate Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Scalia, who was an incumbent justice from 1986 unti ...

Drawing congressional maps is often a contentious process, and the recent undertaking in Alabama is no exception. Despite the 2020 census showing that the number of Black voters in the state increased by 3.4%, the number of majority-minority districts did not increase. The map, which was drawn by st ...

Background In 1993, Michael Wade Nance attempted to rob a bank and killed an innocent bystander in the process of fleeing the scene. In 1997, Nance’s case was held in trial court in which a jury convicted him of murder and sentenced him to the death penalty. Nance appealed the conviction, applyin ...

Facts: Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta, whose crime induced jurisdictional uncertainty, was charged by the State of Oklahoma for child neglect and was sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment. Castro-Huerta appealed his state-court sentence, and as this appeal was pending, the Supreme Court decided McGi ...

Background/Facts of the Case: Hoke County Board of Education v. The State of North Carolina addresses the constitutional right of school children in North Carolina to have the opportunity to receive a “sound basic education” and whether the judicial branch has the jurisdiction to order a transfer ...

On Wednesday, November 9th, 2022, millions of Americans awoke to the reasonably predictable news that the Republicans won both houses of Congress, securing majority control of the legislative branch. This reality, albeit utterly false, seemed almost a certainty in the weeks leading up to the 2022 mi ...

Background The United States Constitution includes various protections for religious beliefs. These include the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause, both incorporated in the First Amendment. The Free Exercise Clause grants citizens the right to practice their religion freely, as lon ...

Background As of June 2021, Medicaid provided healthcare to over 76 million people who would otherwise not afford it. Medicaid is a conditional program, meaning that states must use government funding in compliance with specific conditions established by Congress. Those conditions include broad r ...

Now, we look at our final case of this four-part series, a 2015 SCOTUS case, where notably a government regulation passed strict scrutiny. Thus, even though a law may infringe on a fundamental right, the strict scrutiny standard can be used to hold the law or policy constitutionally valid if the gov ...

Background Adam Briggs, Paula Briggs, Joshua Briggs, and Sarah H. Briggs are all owners of property in Harford Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Their property lays adjacent to property leased by Southwestern Energy (SWN), a U.S. natural gas and energy company.  On Nov. 5, 2015 the B ...