Courts and contempt powers in India: The case of Jolly LLB-2
Although the Legislature and the Executive are the subject of regular political satire in India, last month the courts showed that contempt powers can be used to create a hitherto-unknown...
The Religious Views of Judges and Human Rights Adjudication: A Reply to Bamforth and Barber
Two blog contributions have recently discussed the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the US Supreme Court and what should be made of his conservative and theologically-derived views supported by...
Judge Neil Gorsuch: A Reply to Nicholas Bamforth
At the start of March, Nick Bamforth wrote a blog post for this site examining Judge Neil Gorsuch’s ‘Academic Pedigree’. With the hearings on Gorsuch underway, I thought it might...
Judge Gorsuch’s Academic Pedigree
In articles published on 4th February 2017, the Times and Guardian newspapers drew attention to the intellectual influence of Oxford legal theorist John Finnis on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge...
China’s New Circuit Tribunals Allow Tighter Control of Judiciary
China’s new system of circuit tribunals makes access to the justice system more convenient for ordinary citizens. But the new tribunals also make sure that the Communist Party retains firm...
The U.S. Constitution, Constitutional Conventions, and President Trump
What is most concerning about the conduct of Donald Trump during and since the 2016 presidential campaign is not any potential violations of the U.S. Constitution. Most concerning are his...
Triggering Article 50: R (Miller and others) v Secretary of State for the Exiting of the European Union
The High Court in London is currently hearing a challenge to the position of the UK Government that it can trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union...
Judging Abortion in Northern Ireland: Facing the Challenges, Taking the Opportunities
The Northern Ireland legal system and, more specifically, Northern Irish courts have been thrust into the national spotlight this week following the prosecution of a 21 year old woman who...
Scalia’s Record on Labour Rights as Human Rights – Justice Denied
During Justice Scalia’s nearly thirty-year term, the Court decided nineteen private-sector labour cases in which the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was a party. Three cases concerned whether the Court/NLRB/President...
Justice Scalia’s Terribly Few Words on Education Rights
Justice Scalia was a wordsmith whose informal, pithy style and wit forced smiles from even his staunchest critics. His influence on the Supreme Court came through the sheer effect of...
Blog: Scalia’s Influence on the Religion Clauses: Part II
During the last thirty years, Justice Scalia was a key figure in the Supreme Court’s steady movement away from separationist readings of the Establishment Clause in state funding of religious...
Justice Scalia and the Fair Housing Act: A Textualist Approach Honed in Oral Argument
Justice Antonin Scalia’s output in the area of housing rights, and Fair Housing Act (FHA) law specifically, is deceptively sparse, if judged by authored opinions. Assessing his impact on these...
