I have no idea. Whereas Bradley Manning is allegedly responsible for delivering stolen classified documents to Wikileaks and can be charged with espionage and breach of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it’s difficult to see how Assange himself could be charged under US law for publishing those documents. In New York Times v United… { Read More }
Archive for the ‘Supreme Court of the United States’ Category
Written Constitutions & Post Office Privatisation
Carl Gardner recently blogged about “Written constitutions, a warning from America” and noted his bemusement that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could be “struck down” by the Judicial Branch as being “unconstitutional” – particularly when Barack Obama had made health care reform a fundamental plank of his election manifesto. My response to Carl… { Read More }
Birthers, Law and Reading Comprehension
“Birthers”, if you didn’t know, refers to people who think Barack Obama does not satisfy the “natural born citizen” requirement contained in the US Constitution and thus is ineligible to be President of the United States. Some birthers think Obama was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii. They are not satisfied with Hawaii’s computerised print-out… { Read More }
Constitutional Law for the Perplexed: Equal Protection and Marriage
I like to deal with common misunderstandings on Day One of Public law, and, being a bit of a pedant, I like to clarify that the UK is a constitutional monarchy and the US is not a “democracy”: It’s a constitutional republic. Democracies, as far as I’m concerned, are mob rule. The United States’ Declaration… { Read More }
US Constitution: Originalism v Stare decisis
As an Anglo-American lecturer in English Criminal and Public (constitutional and administrative) law, I am bemused by the myriad of approaches to US Constitutional interpretation. So here’s a question: Is Miranda v Arizona “unconstitutional”? How do you approach the Sixth Amendment right “to have the assistance of counsel”? The Sixth Amendment states: “In all criminal… { Read More }