Topic: Fourteenth Amendment
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US Supreme Court: Big 21st century rulings
The past 12 years have seen significant US high court decisions with wide-ranging effects on personal freedoms and national politics. Another key ruling is expected this summer on President Obama's health-care reform law. Here are some recent top rulings, all decided by 5-to-4 votes.
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Five reasons the S&P downgrade isn’t so bad – and one word of caution
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Out of options in debt ceiling talks? Nope, here are five.
All Content
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Jodi Arias case: What's trend line on women getting the death penalty?
Among male murderers in the US, a smaller share has been drawing the death penalty in recent years. That's not so, though, for women killers. How societal views may factor into sentencing in instances such as the Jodi Arias case.
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Michigan judge delays case to await Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage
The Michigan case aims to allow same-sex couples to adopt children and, therefore, to marry, but it's likely to be impacted by two landmark gay-rights cases before the US Supreme Court.
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Decoder Wire The 'stupid party': Is GOP's concern what's said or how it's said?
Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and former party chief Haley Barbour disparage anew 'stupid' comments about rape and abortion by a few GOP candidates. It's hard to tell if the concern is mainly about style or substance.
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Robert Reich On guns and debt, Obama should use authority
President Obama's executive authority to pay the nation’s bills or broadly interpret gun laws already on the books could be useful in pending negotiations with congressional Republicans, Reich writes.
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Stefan Karlsson Is a $1 trillion coin the solution to the debt crisis?
A $1 trillion coin could be used by the Obama administration to finance spending even if the debt limit isn't raised, Karlsson writes.
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Supreme Court takes up gay marriage: what the justices have to decide
The main question before the Supreme Court is not whether the Constitution protects gay marriage, but whether Prop. 8 and DOMA discriminate in violation of the 14th Amendment.
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Gay marriage reaches Supreme Court: Justices to review Prop 8., DOMA
The two cases being taken up by the Supreme Court involve a challenge to California’s Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage and a suit from New York City testing the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
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Opinion: Plan B for raising debt ceiling: Obama should invoke the Constitution
President Obama wisely wants to resolve the looming crises with the debt ceiling and the 'fiscal cliff ' now. If he can't strike a debt-ceiling deal, he has another option: Bring out the Constitution, whose 14th Amendment states that the 'validity' of US debt 'shall not be questioned.'
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Supreme Court rejects Idaho case on prohibiting the insanity defense
Idaho is one of four states that do not permit criminal defendants to claim they are innocent by reason of insanity. On Monday, the US Supreme Court declined to take a case testing whether an insanity defense is a constitutional right.
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US appeals court strikes down Michigan ban on affirmative action (+video)
While the 8-7 ruling on affirmative action did not address the constitutionality of race-conscious admissions to college, the majority said Michigan's prohibition on the policy 'places special burdens on racial minorities.'
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If your side lost the election, time to secede from the Union?
That will never happen, but people on the losing side of the presidential election are venting via a petition, on a White House website, to have their state secede from the Union. Petitioners in Texas lead the pack.
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Where Todd Akin and Paul Ryan agree, and disagree, on abortion
There's nothing to indicate that Paul Ryan shares Rep. Todd Akin's strange rationale for denying rape victims access to abortion. But the GOP's vice presidential candidate opposes such abortions, nonetheless.
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Gay marriage: California's Prop. 8 lands on doorstep of US Supreme Court (+video)
US Supreme Court is asked to hear California's Prop. 8 case. If the justices agree to hear that one and federal Defense of Marriage Act cases in the next term, it would mark the most extensive and important examination of gay rights in the US ever.
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Supreme Court approves strip searches for minor offenses
Jail officials are justified in performing strip searches as a reasonable precaution to maintain safety and order at their facilities, the Supreme Court said Monday.
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US Supreme Court: Big 21st century rulings
The past 12 years have seen significant US high court decisions with wide-ranging effects on personal freedoms and national politics. Another key ruling is expected this summer on President Obama's health-care reform law. Here are some recent top rulings, all decided by 5-to-4 votes.
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Rights at Risk
Are Americans in the process of abandoning their rights?
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Does Supreme Court decision on sick leave hint at health-care law ruling?
The sick leave provision and health-care law rely on different sections of the Constitution, but Supreme Court-watchers noted with interest that the justices found Congress had overstepped its authority.
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How Supreme Court ruling on Texas could reduce affirmative action across US
The Supreme Court, which has shifted to the right, may use the Texas case to overturn the 2003 decision that achieving classroom diversity could justify the use of race-based affirmative action.
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Affirmative action in college admissions goes back before Supreme Court
US Supreme Court is taking an affirmative action case about the University of Texas admissions policy, which permits race to be a factor in deciding which applicants are admitted.
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Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
A federal court overturned Prop. 8, California's ban on gay marriage, but the ruling did not affirm a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage, as gay-rights groups had hoped.
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Birthright citizenship: Lawyers group opposes proposed US Constitution change
Birthright citizenship is given to anyone born in the US. The American Bar Association says they're against any changes to the Constitution that would outlaw birthright citizenship.
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Five reasons the S&P downgrade isn’t so bad – and one word of caution
If the Standard & Poors downgrade of US debt from AAA to AA+ worries investors enough, the US may be forced to pay higher interest on its debt, which could affect interest rates across the economy, from mortgages to car loans. But for now, economists say, the economic impact of the downgrade will likely be minimal and US Treasury bonds will continue to be the investment vehicle of choice for American and overseas investors. “Despite the drop in the rating and the fact that the US economy is going through a fiscal crisis, it’s still one of the safest places to invest,” says Farhad Saboori, an economist at Albright College in Reading, Penn. Here are five reasons why the downgrade isn’t as bad as it seems, and a reminder not to take it too lightly:
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As congressional debt-ceiling plans founder, eyes turn to executive option
There is growing pressure on President Obama to simply declare an increase in the debt ceiling by executive order and tell everyone else: Deal with it.
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US debt crisis: Is Obama's leadership style suited to the moment?
Despite Obama's use of the bully pulpit in the showdown over the debt limit, he is not a direct party to negotiations. How much has his cautious leadership style contributed to his predicament?
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Out of options in debt ceiling talks? Nope, here are five.
How many ways are there to resolve the debt ceiling crisis? Negotiators meeting at the White House seem to hit one impasse after another, and frustration on both sides is mounting as an Aug. 2 deadline looms to avoid default on America’s debt obligations. Still, at least five options for handling the matter have been discussed in recent days and months. Other possible solutions may well emerge, but here’s the state of play on the options to date.
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