The long-forgotten 17th Amendment — the one that gave us direct election of senators — has suddenly moved to center stage in the new debate over constitutional first principles fostered by the Tea Party movement.
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November, 2010
November 22, 2010
Before the Democratic majority shrinks at the end of the year, senators are preparing for a possible showdown over President Barack Obama's most controversial judicial nominees.
November 17, 2010
Though a lawsuit filed by state attorneys general over the Obama administration's new health care law is receiving the lion's share of media attention, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers also wants its voice heard in the court battle — in support of the controversial legislation.
November 16, 2010
Democratic state Sen. Karen Keiser has joined a coalition of 71 lawmakers from around the country who are submitting a legal brief Friday in support of the federal health-care reform. That puts Keiser, a state-level health reformer with roots in the labor movement, smack-dab opposite Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna and other Republicans around the country who are trying to overturn the reform in court.
November 15, 2010
Vincent Staub convinced a jury that his supervisors at a hospital got him fired because they were tired of his Army reserve duties taking too much of his time.
Kevin Kasten said the plastics company he worked for got rid of him for complaining that the time clock had been illegally placed in an inconvenient spot for workers.
And Eric Thompson said his pink slip came not from anything he did wrong. He said the company where he worked along with his fiancee was looking for a way to punish her for filing a sex discrimination complaint.
November 15, 2010
WASHINGTON — She sits at the far end of the bench and, as the newest justice and first appointee in nearly 40 years without prior judicial experience, Elena Kagan could have found herself on the fringe of the Supreme Court's fast-paced oral arguments.
But she has shown after two rounds of arguments and 10 cases that she can work her way easily into the Q-and-A and cut to the heart of an issue.
November 15, 2010
CAC’s Elizabeth Wydra Explains Federal Preemption on The Legal Times
November 15, 2010
Watch CAC’s Chief Counsel Elizabeth Wydra explain “federal preemption” and recap oral argument in two federal preemption Supreme Court cases —Williamson v. Mazda Motors and AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion — on The Legal Times.
November 9, 2010
A victory for consumers and class action litigators seemed possible on Tuesday as the Supreme Court heard arguments in a high-stakes dispute over clauses that block class actions as a way of resolving contract disputes.
Justices seemed reluctant to second-guess a California court ruling that was the basis for deciding that such clauses are "unconscionable" under state law and cannot be enforced, even when they are embedded in arbitration clauses.
November 9, 2010
Washington (CNN) -- Supreme Court cases often turn on tricky interpretations of a word or phrase that serve to buttress a broader legal principle. The magic word at Tuesday's oral arguments was "unconscionable," and how it applies to consumer disputes and arbitration.
November 8, 2010
WASHINGTON - With Justice John Paul Stevens now retired, Justice Stephen G. Breyer looks ready to replace his former colleague as dissenter-in-chief on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Some legal observers think he could even take on a more prominent role as the leading liberal voice on the court.
November 1, 2010
A new post on the on the Constitutional Accountability Center’s climate change blog lays out what’s at stake for state climate change laws in two upcoming Supreme Court cases on federal preemption.
Intrigued, I called up Doug Kendall, president of CAC, a progressive think tank and law firm, to get a little more information on the issue.
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