Legal History

Lawyers involved in the gun debate are primed for the Supreme Court to take the next big case

As fatal police shootings and gun violence ravage Black communities, and mass shootings and active shooter drills have become ingrained in the American experience, local and state governments have countered the threat by creating more gun laws. As gun rights groups have fought those laws in the courts, it’s become a common refrain that trial judges are flouting the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller and undermining Second Amendment rights.

Dec 1, 2020 3:00 AM CST

Jan. 13, 1914: Wright brothers awarded patent on flying machine

On Dec. 17, 1903, beginning at 10:35 a.m., the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, piloted four motorized flights ranging from 120 to 852 feet across a stretch of beach near the town of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Reports of their accomplishment raised only mild public interest, but the brothers seemed…

Dec 1, 2020 12:05 AM CST

Posthumous bar admission granted in case of Black man who sought law license in 1882

A Black man who sought to become a lawyer in Dallas in 1882 after reading the law has been granted bar admission posthumously, thanks to the work of two appeals judges who did the historical research.

Oct 26, 2020 12:24 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Secretaries get extra bonuses at this law firm; AG Barr warns of liberal DAs

Secretaries at this law firm get extra bonuses; associates left out Goodwin Procter will pay an extra $1,000 to all secretaries to recognize “hard work during these challenging times,” according to an internal email obtained by two legal publications. The law firm won’t be paying special bonuses to associates, however.…

Oct 19, 2020 1:34 PM CDT

Oct. 24, 1865: The ‘Demon of Andersonville’ is convicted

Capt. Heinrich Hartmann Wirz wasn’t the only Confederate soldier prosecuted for war crimes after the Civil War—there were thousands of them—but Wirz was easily the most reviled.

Oct 1, 2020 12:05 AM CDT

Is this a moment or a movement? 6 civil rights lawyers reflect on recent demands for racial justice

Lawyers have a long tradition of supporting efforts to bring racial and social justice to this country. Recent killings of unarmed Black people by police have sparked a new wave of protests and demonstrations on a scale not seen in decades. Once again, the nation has been forced to pay attention.

Oct 1, 2020 12:00 AM CDT

Constitutional scholars sound warning on SCOTUS and the separation of church and state

The separation of church and state is a concept that is often talked about, but there's hardly a national consensus on what that should look like—or whether it should exist at all. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has been shifting towards an "accomodationist" interpretation, say the authors of The Religion Clauses: The Case for Separating Church and State. To Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman, this is a dangerous approach.

Sep 23, 2020 9:30 AM CDT

History shows how SCOTUS nominations play out in election years

There are parallels between President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s recess appointment of William J. Brennan Jr. and the vacancy created by the Sept. 18 death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just weeks before the presidential election, 1956 “was a very different time from what is happening now,” says Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute.

Sep 22, 2020 2:45 PM CDT

‘Demagogue’ tells the story of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s rise and fall

What made 1950s America vulnerable to a man like Joseph McCarthy, a junior senator from Wisconsin? In Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy, author Larry Tye takes an in-depth look at McCarthy's life.

Sep 9, 2020 8:00 AM CDT

Unusual nuisance law cited in suit for Tulsa massacre reparations; one plaintiff is 105

A lawsuit filed in Oklahoma this week seeks damages for a continuing nuisance stemming from the 1921 Tulsa massacre in an affluent neighborhood known as the Black Wall Street.

Sep 4, 2020 12:27 PM CDT

‘Talk less, smile more’: The Hamilton-Burr conundrum law students face today

Law students, like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, are facing questions of whether to stay silent or speak up about societal issues such as social justice in this country, their interests and safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sep 3, 2020 12:25 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Trump pardons Susan B. Anthony; suspect in lawyer’s murder claims memory loss

Trump pardons Susan B. Anthony President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is granting a posthumous pardon to Susan B. Anthony, the women’s suffragist who was convicted for casting a ballot in an 1872 election. Tuesday is the anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. (The New…

Aug 18, 2020 4:52 PM CDT

ABA releases a cookbook to mark centennial of 19th Amendment’s ratification

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” reads the 19th Amendment, which was ratified on this day 100 years ago.

Aug 18, 2020 1:00 PM CDT

Convicted of a crime that never occurred? It happens all too often, law prof says

We are used to hearing about wrongful convictions in which a murderer walked free because an innocent person was misidentified. But when Jessica S. Henry, a professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey, was researching material for her course on wrongful convictions, she discovered that in one-third of all known exonerations, the conviction was wrongful because there had not even been a crime.

Aug 12, 2020 9:00 AM CDT

Army lawyer let Sen. McCarthy ‘hang himself’ through his own words, says author of new bio

“The Army-McCarthy hearings would rightfully be compared to a soap opera, even though there was no infidelity or seduction, the plot meandered, and the only real star was a hired-gun solicitor,” writes author Larry Tye.

Aug 11, 2020 9:55 AM CDT