By declaring a ‘constitutional county,’ local leaders assert they are creating a refuge from anti- or unconstitutional actions undertaken by an overzealous state or federal authority.
Throughout Thomas’ tenure on the court, he has pushed the Supreme Court to replace Marshall’s vision with one more amenable to the powerful than the powerless.
A satirist posted a parody of a police Facebook page. He was arrested and jailed for four days. How far do free speech protections extend when it comes to satire about government?
A significant number of county sheriffs across the US have a particular – and false – view of their role in defending Americans’ constitutional rights.
If the Supreme Court guts landmark rulings that established a constitutional right to abortion, the legal struggle will shift to statehouses and state courtrooms.
Brendan Szendro, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Governed by a changeable body of ‘basic laws,’ Israel never settled basic questions like the rights of religious minorities. These destabilizing issues will continue to fester under a new government.
Police officers who kill, injure or violate the rights of citizens are often not held accountable, even in civil court – because in most cases, they can’t be sued for official acts.
In dismissing the youth climate case, the court acknowledged that climate change is serious, but not serious enough to reconsider the reach of the constitution.
When a person or agency backed by the power and resources of the government tells a lie, it sometimes causes harm that only the government can inflict.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg apologized for his city’s ‘stop-and-frisk’ police strategy. Two criminologists argue it isn’t necessarily inherently racist – though New York’s program was.
An American media scholar studying in Australia looks at the protections offered by the two countries for investigative reporting, raising crucial questions about journalism’s role in democracy.
Americans enjoy a right to free speech, and some public figures really exercise that right. The Constitution might not protect them the way they think it does, though.
South Africa’s transition to democracy was based on the values of inclusive politics, reconciliation, human rights and constitutionalism. Twenty-two years on, how has the country fared?