Louisiana Law Requiring Ten Commandments Back in Court https://buff.ly/3E9S2RN

A dist ct held it violated the Establishment Cl for Louisiana to demand a ten commandments poster in every public school classroom, from K to college.

Fifth Circuit heard oral args today

Federal district court judge temporarily blocks Trump's birthright citizenship order https://buff.ly/3CamBWX

"I’ve been on the bench for over four decades," Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said. "I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order."

South Carolina Doctors Challenge #Abortion Ban on Free Exercise Grounds https://buff.ly/40gIQlQ

If the Supreme Court happily grants conservative Christians exemptions from health care laws on religious liberty grounds (which they do all the time), then progressive Christians and nonChristians ought to be able to eligible for them too

A favorite covid era innovation: online quizzes

The multiple choice quizzes cover basics of the assigned cases i.e. parties, holding, reasoning

The key is to make the online quizzes due BEFORE class

Also, I allow students to take the quiz as many times as they like, retaining only the highest score

Students who complete all quizzes with perfect score get extra points at the ned of the semester. Most do.

Everyone is better prepared

Question for conlaw profs:

If you are teaching conlaw I this spring (basic structure), what updates are you making to your syllabus besides Trump v. United States (2024)?

Top 10 Religious Liberty and Church-State Developments of 2024 https://religionclause.blogspot.com/2024/12/top-10-religious-liberty-and-church.html

From Religion Clause Blog
If you are interested in US law& religion, this is the blog for you

Include:
religion in public schools
misgendering teachers
Oklahoma rejects religious charter school
bans on gender affirming care
abortion referenda
religious right to abortion
Louisiana says wrongful death law covers IVF embryos

https://religionclause.blogspot.com/2024/12/court-enjoins-most-of-missouris.html

Because abortion ruling left intact abortion facility licensing requirements,
"no health center in the state can restart abortion services because none has an abortion license, or can get one under the state’s draconian requirements"

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5010954

**NOW AVAILABLE**
Regulating LGBTQ Speech in the Classroom

Under existing law, teachers teaching (i.e. their speech pursuant to official duties) is govt speech unprotected by free speech

This essay argues that this rule mistakenly assumes that the Free Speech Clause protects only speakers and not audiences--in this case students

It then examines deliberate misgendering & Don't Say Gay laws thru this lens

Looking at Dobbs again for a paper and my blood boils every time I have reread its one paragraph dismissal of an equal protection challenge to abortion ban due to the cursed Geduldig decision (which held that pregnancy disc is not sex disc)

And yesterday in the Skrmetti oral arg you could see them trying to mobilize Geduldig again to dismiss the equal protection challenge to gendering affirming care ban

Just like bans on abortion essentially impose conservative Christian ideology onto everyone regardless of their own faith,

bans on transgender medical care -- health care that all medical associations support -- does the same.

Ohio Governor Signs Transgender Bathroom Bill https://buff.ly/41aK5VH

The grossly misnamed "Protect All Students Act" is govt bullying.
All in the service of Christian nationalism.

Shame on everyone involved.

In praise of the Washington Post’s cowardice https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4956389-in-praise-of-the-washington-posts-cowardice/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGMoXdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYo8lhFKIVPGLR6p083N7XQ4X8qYdw1SFtK8NK30DcxWOpu7QGerw_4Iyg_aem_QOw7epb3XJvyu9hZS6V1FA

"The Post has offered us a dramatic glimpse into what a Trumpified America looks like — one in which the abuse of government power is so expected that the press censors itself, fearing the ruler’s wrath. This is a familiar sight in distant kleptocracies, but the U.S. has been spared it, at least at the highest levels, until now."

#law #FediLaw #FediProf #freespeech #GoodPoint!

Florida threatens to criminally charge TV stations airing abortion rights ad https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/10/09/florida-abortion-tv-ad-caroline/

If there is one thing the free speech clause of the first amendment is supposed to do, it is to make sure the govt does not censor viewpoints it does not like.

#FreeSpeech #FirstAmendment #abortion #Florida #CanYouSayBlantantlyUnconstitutional
#Fedilaw #FediProf

NEW ESSAY!
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4829289#

It discusses establishment clause and free exercise clause challenges to early abortion bans

I am about to read the Florida Supreme Court's decision eliminating abortion rights under the Florida Constitution, which has an explicit right to privacy and has until today been read to reach the right to abortion.

I suspect I will become very, very angry at this blatantly outcome driven decision

...

Yes, yes I am.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/04/01/us/florida-abortion-ban.html

Florida Court Allows 6-Week Abortion Ban, but Voters Will Get to Weigh In https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/us/florida-abortion-law-supreme-court.html

Six week ban in Florida is constitutional?
What a disaster not just for Florida but the whole South.

Let's hope voters will amend the Florida Constitution AGAIN

It is published!

My essay: A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Critical Race Bans : https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4409726

Thank you to the UC Irvine Law Review team!

Appeals court blocks Fla. ‘Stop Woke Act,’ says it’s a ‘First Amendment sin’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/04/appeals-court-blocks-florida-stop-woke-act/

It is hard to find a more paradigmatic violation of the free speech clause than the govt censoring a private speaker because the govt doesn't like what the speaker is saying