In October of 2018, the Department of Homeland Security sent a “subpoena/summons” to an immigration attorney.  The document stated: “You are requested not to disclose the existence of this summons for an indefinite period of time. The government works for, and at the behest of, the people.”  The “subpoena/summons” requested  the private attorney to supply…

Those who are interested in national security law and military justice should take note that the most significant changes to the U.S. military justice system in almost 70 years will soon go into effect.  We have not seen change on this scale since the adoption of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) in 1951.…

Transitional justice processes often are too narrow and technocratic. Restorative and retributive justice alone may not lead to a stable peace, because it does not resolve underlying grievances that led to violent conflict. Therefore, transitional justice should incorporate conflict resolution, civil rights and participation, as well as socioeconomic and redistributive justice to address historical marginalization.…

In the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing in early 2016, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate declined to give its advice on President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the high court, much less its consent. That move, along with the Republican-led elimination of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations, has led to a…

In one of the more substantive moments of this month’s Supreme Court Confirmation Theater, Judge Brett Kavanaugh was asked whether he would support broadcasting video of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments. Kavanaugh demurred, saying only that he would keep “an open mind” on the issue. Given that most members of the Supreme Court have come out against…

The authority of States to impose taxes on remote sellers is an issue that calls up various constitutional principles, including (but not limited to) fundamental questions about federalism, the Due Process Clause, and the Commerce Clause.  Last term, in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., the Court was asked yet again whether a seller with no presence…

Missouri voters gave the American labor movement a very welcome bit of good news earlier this month when by a 2-1 margin they refused to become the 28th state in the nation to adopt right-to-work legislation in the private sector.  Coming on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which held that…

More than a few commentators have noted the U.S. Supreme Court’s effort in Trump v. Hawaii, the travel ban case, to put to rest any lingering doubt about the validity of one of the nation’s most notorious judicial precedents, Korematsu v. United States. In that World War II-era case, the Court upheld the government-mandated internment of Japanese-American citizens.…

President Trump has recently taken to Twitter to disparage Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. Coupled with the Attorney General’s firing of former deputy director of the FBI Andrew McCabe days before his retirement, the President may be seeking to undermine Mueller’s credibility…

The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., addressing the issue of when sales tax needs to be collected by online retailers engaged in eCommerce.  In its 1992 decision in Quill v. North Dakota, the Court ruled that a retailer must have a “physical presence” in a…