The Study Corner
500 – Free Speech or Free Beer
When I hear people talk about freedom, there seems to be two different general ideas: freedom from something and freedom to do something. It reminds me of my days in Information Technology, when people described “free” open source software as “Free speech, not free beer!” When we talk about freedom today, are we talking about…
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499 – Warrantless Searches
We all know that, in general, the police need a warrant to enter your home. While the Fourth Amendment lays out the requirements for a warrant, there are exceptions to the warrant requirements. That’s because the Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable searches, not warrantless searches. The case Case v. Montana is about what makes police entry into a private home reasonable.
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498 – Colorado Conversion Therapy Oral Arguments
Who decides what treatment is best for your child? Most people expect the government to protect children from dangerous treatments, even if their parents want it. But shouldn’t the government need to prove harm beyond a reasonable doubt before criminalizing treatment? Sadly, that is not the question before the court in the case Chiles v. Salazar. Rather, it is a twisted attempt to use the First Amendment to strike down this Colorado law.
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497 – Decision on Mexico’s Gun Suit
Back in June I wrote about the oral arguments in Mexico’s law suit against American gun manufacturers and distributors. While the court overall came to the expected decision, I think it’s still worth some time digging into the logic and reasoning of the justices.
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496 – Third-Party Laws
Most of us believe that our state legislatures are making our laws. But what if that is only partially true? What if a third-party was making the laws for your state? Would you be OK with that? Would you be concerned to find out that two private entities are making the laws your state uses regarding commerce?
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495 – The Unitary Executive
There has been a lot of questions lately about the powers of the President. Can a President fire a member of an independent agency? Does the President have to spend money appropriated by Congress? Is it legal for the President to send the National Guard to our cities. Most of these questions can be answered by understanding a single constitutional point, the unitary executive.
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494 – Flag Burning
When it comes to freedom of speech, there are two things that generate a fair amount of controversy. First is yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater and second is burning the United States flag. Recently, Donald Trump issued an Executive Order about flag burning. So let’s take a look at the order and some of the history around flag burning.
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493 – Police Use of Force
Like any other profession, there are good law enforcement officers and bad law enforcement officers. I believe that most LEOs are good men and women, doing a difficult and dangerous job, often with little respect because of the actions of bad LEOs. For years, courts have been protecting these bad officers through their rules and…
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