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Constitution
Supreme Court Can Interpret ‘Sex’ Many Ways in Anti-Gay Cases – Bloomberg
In three gay- and trans-rights cases, the justices will have to weigh a law’s text versus its purpose — and politics will have its say. Does the ban on workplace discrimination based on “sex,” as laid out in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, include discrimination based on …
Measles Outbreak: New York and Religious Law Agree on Vaccines – Bloomberg
A lawsuit challenging efforts to stop a measles outbreak is likely to fail. A group of parents filed suit Monday against the New York City Department of Health to block an emergency order requiring measles vaccinations for everyone in four ZIP codes in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The threat of measles — and …
Mueller Report: Trump’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Cries Didn’t Prevent Filing – Bloomberg
It wasn’t always clear that Trump would let the special counsel finish his investigation. We don’t know what’s in it yet. But we can already say that the Mueller report is a win for democracy. We can say so definitely because on Friday afternoon, special counsel Robert Mueller officially filed a …
Trump Can’t Declare National Emergency to Build Border Wall – Bloomberg
There’s no escape clause in the Constitution that lets him defy Congress. President Donald Trump has said that he can declare a national emergencyand order his border wall to be built. He’s wrong. The U.S. Constitution doesn’t contain any national emergency provision that would allow the president to spend money for purposes not allocated …
Abolish the death penalty – The Washington Post
Without being aware of it, Vernon Madison might become a footnote in constitutional law because he is barely aware of anything. For more than 30 years, Alabama, with a tenacity that deserves a better cause, has been trying to execute him for the crime he certainly committed, the 1985 murder …
Trump’s Attempt to Bully Bannon in Court Would Fail – Bloomberg
The nondisclosure agreement the president would like enforced violates the First Amendment. If President Donald Trump would actually sue Steve Bannon for violating a nondisclosure agreement made with his campaign, it would be great for the freedom of speech. That may sound strange, because Trump’s threatened lawsuit is precisely aimed to silence Bannon and …
Richard Spencer Has Only Himself to Blame for Hecklers – Bloomberg
The government and the University of Florida did all they could to protect his free speech. The white supremacist invited in the protesters. It was Richard Spencer’s party, and he can cry if he wants to. But the hecklers who shouted down the white supremacist Thursday at his University of …
India Proved That Madison Was Right About Federalism – Bloomberg
An innovation by one of America’s Founding Fathers helps hold together the diverse nation. It’s easy to think of all the ways India and the U.S. are different, vastly separated by size, culture, religion and wealth. Yet the two are governed by a remarkably similar structure: democratic federalism, in which …
Invoking the Fifth Tells Us Nothing About Flynn’s Guilt – Bloomberg
It could just mean he has a good lawyer. Or that he’s standing up for principle. The news that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to a Senate subpoena has raised a heated debate about the constitutional right not to incriminate yourself. Is it …
Mar-a-Lago Ad Belongs in Impeachment File – Bloomberg View
What did the president know about the Mar-a-Lago advertisement that appeared for a time on official government websites? And when did he know it? These questions might sound trivial. They aren’t. The webpage about President Donald Trump’s private club, which had all the features of a marketer-drafted puff piece, is …
A Window for Punishing WikiLeaks – Bloomberg View
The Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to news reports, is re-evaluating whether to charge WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing leaked classified material in 2010. This raises a First Amendment flag. The department previously decided it wouldn’t proceed because it couldn’t distinguish WikiLeaks from the New …