May
17
Ratner: Even Osama Should Have Had Criminal Rights
Posted by: Alan J. Borsuk | May 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Michael Ratner would have treated the pursuit of Osama bin Laden as a law enforcement matter, not as a matter of war. He would rather have seen bin Laden arrested, brought to trial, and given the rights of a criminal defendant than shot on the spot by Navy SEALS. This almost certainly doesn’t put Ratner [...]
Mar
30
Connick v. Thompson: Both Answers Are Right — What Was the Question Again?
Posted by: Michael M. O'Hear | March 30, 2011 | 1 Comment
In Supreme Court cases, the majority and dissent sometimes talk right past one another, framing the question for decision so differently that they almost seem to be writing about different cases. See, e.g., the dueling opinions earlier this week in Connick v. Thompson (No. 09-571). Thompson was convicted of attempted armed robbery and murder, and then [...]
Jan
10
Ryne Duren and the Integration of Minor League Baseball
Posted by: J. Gordon Hylton | January 10, 2011 | 2 Comments
Rinold George “Ryne” Duren, one of Wisconsin’s most famous baseball pitchers, passed away at his Florida winter home on January 6, at age 81. Born in Cazenovia, Wisconsin in 1929, Duren was not permitted to pitch while a high school student out of fear for the safety of the other players; however, he did star [...]
Sep
4
Best of the Blogs (Well Mostly the Immigration-Related Ones)
Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | September 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Refugee law does not get all that much attention in the blogosphere, even on the immigration-related blogs, probably because the numbers of refugees and asylees are so low in the context of U.S. immigration as a whole. This week, though, there was a little discussion of a new study showing that asylum-seekers’ success rates [...]
Aug
21
We Have Met the Other and He Is Us (Law Professors)
Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | August 21, 2010 | 9 Comments
In the latest development in what is starting to feel like a trip ”through the looking glass” to some bizarre version of the legal world as I understood it in law school, actual, important politicians have raised the spectre of repealing or amending or re-interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment, specifically, its provision that “[a]ll persons born [...]
Jun
28
Trans-formation
Posted by: Melissa Longamore | June 28, 2010 | 1 Comment
A year ago, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation naming June “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Pride Month.” The proclamation effectively incorporated the transgendered community into President Bill Clinton’s 2000 proclamation, which named June “Gay & Lesbian Pride Month.” In honor of the transgendered community, their legal rights, and the month of June, it seems [...]
May
4
May Day Tea Parties
Posted by: Richard M. Esenberg | May 4, 2010 | 1 Comment
Most recently, the political left accused conservatives of dumbing down the President’s health care bill. It did not usher in “socialized medicine” and did not call for “death panels.” The conservatives weren’t completely wrong. The bill – both by its provisions and by anticipated responses to what are the almost certain ways in which it [...]
May
3
Arizona’s Big Mistake
Posted by: Edward A. Fallone | May 3, 2010 | 3 Comments
Arizona recently passed into law provisions that make a person’s illegal presence in the state of Arizona — currently a civil violation under federal law — a crime under state law. The Arizona law also provides for the arrest of persons where the police have a “reasonable suspicion” that the individual is unlawfully present and [...]
Apr
26
Civil Rights Enforcement Chief: “We Are Open for Business”
Posted by: Alan J. Borsuk | April 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division of the US Justice Department, had a clear and firm message when he visited Marquette University Law School on Friday: He’s aiming to do the job he has held since October energetically and thoroughly. That wouldn’t seem like a noteworthy statement, except for the [...]
Apr
7
Intimate Associations and Public Employment
Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | April 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment
In the past, I have written about my belief that public employees’ rights to sexual privacy should enjoy the same protection afforded First Amendment rights to speech and religion. So far, courts have been unreceptive to my claims that post-Lawrence v. Texas, the right to sexual privacy represents a heightened constitutional right which should lead [...]
Mar
8
Supreme Court Takes Public Employee Informational Privacy Case
Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | March 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The United States Supreme Court granted cert today in the public employee privacy case of NASA v. Nelson, No. 09-530 (petition for cert here). The case will consider whether NASA, a federal agency, violated the informational privacy rights of employees, who worked in non-sensitive contract jobs, by asking certain invasive questions during background investigations. General [...]
Feb
26
Part of the Way Along the Path of Racial Equity
Posted by: Alan J. Borsuk | February 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Lindsey Draper recalls that when he was a student at Marquette Law School, he would sometimes pause to look at photos of previous graduating classes. He would have a hard time spotting anyone who was African American like him. As Draper (L ’75) looked out at about 50 people, many of them African Americans who [...]
Blog Editors
- Alan Borsuk
- Bruce E. Boyden
- Edward A. Fallone
- Melissa L. Greipp
- Scott C. Idleman
- Lisa Mazzie
- Michael M. O'Hear
- Ryan Scoville
