Unpaid Interns in the New York Courts: Time to Start Spreading the News?
Seen most cynically, employers deploy the label “intern” to give the impression that worker protection laws do not apply to people who look very much like workers, relying on financial...
Guantanamo Military Commissions: Reflections from a Legal Observer – Part 3
Editor’s note: This is the third and final post of a multi-part blog. To view earlier posts on this subject, please view Part I and Part II. In my last...
Guantanamo Military Commissions: Reflections from a Legal Observer – Part 2
There is perhaps no more controversial space in the world than the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. For many, Guantanamo represents the very worst of the American prosecution...
Guantanamo Military Commissions: Reflections from a Legal Observer – Part 1
There is perhaps no more controversial space in the world than the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. For many, Guantanamo represents the very worst of the American prosecution...
Cultivating a Common Bond: The Right to Adequate Education in South Africa and the United States
As the newest wave of education adequacy litigation crashes upon the shores of South Africa, courts there face the enormous task of breathing life into a socio-economic right that is...
Racial profiling: more than a numbers game
Although minority communities have long complained of racial profiling by police, their claims have generally been dismissed until proven by empirical evidence. And so it was with the New York...
Floyd v City of New York: Promise and Challenges in Reforming Stop and Frisk
The New York City Police Department (NYPD)’s controversial stop and frisk program was dealt its most significant legal blow when a federal court judge ruled the practice unconstitutional for its...
The Liberty-Equality Debate: Comparing the Lawrence and Naz Foundation Rulings
Last month marked the 10 year anniversary of Lawrence v Texas, where the US Supreme Court ruled that laws that criminalised sodomy were unconstitutional. Like June 26 2013, June 26...
Human Rights and Community Justice: A View from Red Hook, Brooklyn
The Red Hook Community Justice Center (RHCJC), the small community court in Brooklyn, New York, seems miles away from lofty, academic debates on human rights. However, in its own way,...
Is it Time for the US Supreme Court to Come Out of the Closet?
In a follow-up post to his previous analysis of Windsor v. United States, Karl Laird examines which constitutional provisions were invoked in the US Supreme Court decision. Now that a...
Shelby County v Holder: Disconcerting Aspects of the US Supreme Court’s Decision and its Impact on the Right to Vote
On the second day of what many consider one of the most eventful weeks in US Supreme Court history, the Court issued its decision on the Voting Rights Act (VRA)...
The Questions Raised by Striking Down DOMA
In light of the release of Windsor v the United States, Karl Laird analyzes the US Supreme Court’s reasoning, noting the Court still avoids the hard questions. It took Justice...
