HLPR Blog: Notice and Comment

By Mateo De La Torre* and Harper Jean Tobin** As the nation discusses sentencing and prison reform, judges and policymakers increasingly consider the rights of an especially vulnerable group of prisoners: those who are transgender. Similar to other minority groups, LGBTQ people face disproportionate rates of incarceration. Federal data show non-heterosexual adults are … [Read more...] about Transgender Prisoners: Ground Zero for Prison Reform

By Daniel Cotter* On October 31, 2019, the House voted along party lines, 232-196, to formalize the impeachment inquiry procedure.  Republicans had insisted that the process must be formalized and that a vote was required before the House could conduct an impeachment inquiry.  That insistence is misplaced and is a myth of the impeachment process that is not supported by the … [Read more...] about The Myth of the Impeachment Inquiry Process

By Daniel Cotter* On October 8, 2019, White House Counsel Pat A. Cipollone wrote an eight-page letter to House Speaker Pelosi, and to Chairmen Engel, Schiff, and Cummings. The letter was described as being without legal basis and wrong.  It is a dangerous letter for many reasons, including that it inaccurately addresses what impeachment is and how the process works. The … [Read more...] about A Troubling Interpretation

By Sarah J. Morath* You don’t need to be an elected official, a CEO, or a celebrity like Leonardo DiCaprio to create environmental change. You don’t even need to be an adult.  Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg illustrates that individual action by everyday individuals, matters.  What began with a lone school girl sitting on the steps of the Swedish parliament instead of at her … [Read more...] about Individual Action, Collective Change: Six Ways Individuals Can Create Environmental Change

By Daniel Cotter* The formal impeachment inquiry into allegations of President Trump’s dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ramping up quickly. Much has been discussed about the impeachment process and what happens if Trump is impeached. Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution provides for impeachment, stating: The President, Vice … [Read more...] about Yes, Virginia, there is no Senate Clause

By Michael J. Hasday* When the State of California and Planned Parenthood recently sued the Trump Administration over regulations implementing an abortion gag rule,[1] they must have thought they had a good chance before the famously liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.   But lady luck was not on their side.   Although the majority of judges on the Ninth Circuit were … [Read more...] about Divide and Conquer: How the Democrats Can Maintain Control of the Ninth Circuit

By Mark Satta[1] On June 20, in a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the presence of a ninety-year-old World War I memorial in the form of a 32-foot Latin cross on public land in Maryland does not violate the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion. The Court’s decision in American Legion v. American Humanist Association joins a long … [Read more...] about The “Many” Overlooked in the Supreme Court’s American Legion Decision

By Daniel Cotter* President Donald Trump has had great success in appointing Article III judges to the many vacancies that he inherited when he became President in January 2017.  President Trump has touted recently that he is on a record-breaking pace for the judiciary.  However, a review of the data of judgeships filled by president does not confirm that assertion. On … [Read more...] about Judicial Nominations in the Trump Administration

By Adriel Cepeda Derieux* Late last month, the Supreme Court heard argument in Department of Commerce v. New York.  The case will determine whether the Trump administration can change the census by adding a question that asks the citizenship status of all persons in the United States.  Despite petitioners’ misleading arguments, that question has no precedent or tradition.  … [Read more...] about Why Adding A Citizenship Question to the Census Will Not Help Enforce the Voting Rights Act