Constitution360 is a hub for resources on the Constitution and public policy in Congress, the administration, and the courts.
The full site is under development. While it grows, I hope you’ll enjoy the blog.
A little bit on me:
I’m Steve Schwinn, a law professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, where I teach and write on issues related to constitutional law and public policy.
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a district court injunction and an appeals court mandate and order that would have required Missouri to use a 2025 redrawn congressional map in the upcoming midterm election. Under the ruling, Missouri must use its 2022 map. The ruling ends the extraordinary year-long effort…
The Supreme Court stayed the district court ruling that paved the way for Missouri to use its 2025 congressional map in the upcoming midterm elections. The Court ruling and other, related moves mean that Missouri will use its earlier 2022 congressional map, and not its redrawn 2025 map, which was…
After the district court ruled in favor of the secretary of state and issued a TRO, opponents of the state’s 2025 gerrymandered congressional map sought an emergency stay at the Eighth Circuit. The Eighth Circuit declined, writing that “we either lack jurisdiction over the appeal or, based on the briefing…
Soon after Justice Kavanaugh declined to stay a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that ordered the state to use its 2022 congressional map, a federal district court ordered the state to use its 2025 gerrymandered map. (Opponents of the 2025 gerrymandered map filed an emergency motion for a stay in the…
Justice Kavanaugh today denied the Missouri secretary of state’s application for a stay of a state supreme court ruling that ordered the state to use its 2022 congressional map (and not its 2025 newly gerrymandered map) in the upcoming midterm elections. The upshot is that Missouri cannot use its 2025…
The Fifth Circuit ruled on Friday that the Constitution does not protect a right to clean water or to truthful information from public officials about contaminants in drinking water. The en banc ruling means that Jackson, Mississippi officials are off the hook for causing lead to leach into the City’s…
The Supreme Court on Friday rebuffed a challenge to a Federal Communications Commission notice that allowed political parties coordinating with candidates to receive the lowest-unit-charge rate for political advertising through a broadcasting station. The ruling means that political parties that coordinate with candidates are entitled to favorable broadcast-advertising rates that…
A federal district court today issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Administration from enforcing President Trump’s latest effort to restrict birthright citizenship. The ruling means that the Administration can’t enforce President Trump’s post-Barbara executive order on birthright citizenship. We expected this result, given that President Trump’s latest EO plainly flies…
A whistleblower described the many problems with the USPS portal for states to upload voter information under USPS regs adopted pursuant to President Trump’s EO on mail-in voting. The disclosure comes as the Administration seeks a stay at the First Circuit of the district court’s temporary restraining order halting the…
The Supreme Court today lifted a lower-court injunction against continued construction of a ballroom at the White House. The ruling allows construction of the ballroom to continue while the case moves forward in the courts on the merits. The preliminary ruling says only that the plaintiff lacked standing to challenge…
The same federal district court that earlier enjoined the Trump Administration from enforcing President Trump’s EO on mail-in balloting again halted the Administration. The move came yesterday, after the Supreme Court stayed the district court’s original injunction and after the plaintiffs renewed their motions in light of the now-issued USPS…
The Supreme Court today stayed a lower-court ruling that halted implementation of President Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting. The ruling means that the Administration can move to implement the EO. This could have a significant impact on mail-in voting in the upcoming mid-term elections. But the ruling was limited…
Judge Indira Talwani (D. Mass.) issued a preliminary injunction halting the Postal Service from “implementing, giving effect to, or enforcing” a key portion of President Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting in the upcoming elections. The ruling means that the Postal Service can’t move forward with its regulations that specify…
The Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion this week that the President’s executive privilege covers communications with private individuals, and not just certain government employees. The opinion represents an effort to expand the privilege beyond what any court has specifically held. I say “an effort” because…
The full (en banc) Ninth Circuit ruled on Friday that voter-rights organizations lacked standing to challenge one Arizona election law, and that they were not likely to win in their challenge against another. The standing ruling is significant, because it walks-back the Ninth Circuit’s more permissive approach to organizational standing…
President Trump issued an executive order last week that again tried to limit birthright citizenship, even after the Supreme Court struck his first effort just over a month ago, in Trump v. Barbara. (Our analysis of that case is here.) Under the new EO, the following individuals (among other) do…
The D.C. Circuit today affirmed a lower court’s refusal to halt the implementation of President Trump’s EO on mail-in voting. The ruling would allow the Administration to move forward with its implementation of the EO. But at the same time, the decision comes just days after the Second Circuit declined…
The Trump Administration asked the Supreme Court to stay a lower court ruling that enjoined the Administration from enforcing portions of President Trump’s executive order on elections. If the Court grants a stay, the Administration could move forward in implementing President Trump’s EO. If it doesn’t, the Administration can only…
The Second Circuit earlier this week upheld New York’s school vaccination requirement, which includes a medical exemption but not a religious one. The ruling means that New York can continue to enforce its vaccination requirement even against those who have a religious objection. Sooner or later, the issue seems likely…
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that President Trump’s executive order purporting to limit birthright citizenship violated the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The ruling leaves in place the long- and well-established rule that a person born in the United States is a citizen of the United States, with only…
