Leading Cases

These student-written pieces focus on one important case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court during the previous Term and form the “Leading Cases” section of the November Supreme Court issue. Comments are ten pages long and written during the summer between students’ second and third years.

First Amendment

Vidal v. Elster

Vol. 138 No. 1 “History and tradition” has become a dominant mode of constitutional interpretation at the Supreme Court in recent Terms. But, while the Court’s conservative Justices...
Second Amendment

United States v. Rahimi

Vol. 138 No. 1 More than fifteen years after the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, “the right of the people to keep and bear...
Fifth Amendment

McElrath v. Georgia

Vol. 138 No. 1 The substantive law under which the accused are prosecuted can vary from state to state. But no matter the jurisdiction, there are procedural backstops...
Due Process

Department of State v. Muñoz

Vol. 138 No. 1 Marriage bestows upon a couple a set of rights, and chief among them is the ability to live with one’s spouse. However, this right...
Constitutional Remedies

DeVillier v. Texas

Vol. 138 No. 1 The law of constitutional remedies is tightly coupled with the law of equity. In the early twentieth century, suits in equity became the “normal...
Sixth Amendment

Smith v. Arizona

Vol. 138 No. 1 The Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause protects the right of “the accused” in a criminal prosecution “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” In...
Eighth Amendment

City of Grants Pass v. Johnson

Vol. 138 No. 1 “Poverty and immorality are not synonymous,” the Supreme Court once observed. A set of laws that would restrict where “the poor and the unpopular...
Corporations

Moore v. United States

Vol. 138 No. 1 When conservative interest groups cheered on Charles and Kathleen Moore’s suit against the government over a tax bill, they sought to “permanently . . . put . . . to rest” calls...
Separation of Powers

SEC v. Jarkesy

Vol. 138 No. 1 The expansion of the administrative state since the New Deal has raised significant questions about the relationship between the three branches of government. A...