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The Docket : Quiz Answers

June 26, 2020 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

Quiz from the January 26 Docket newsletter. Who said each legal quote (Answers): (A) “I mean, are you just rearguing the point that the Court rejected?” — Chief Justice Roberts in Devillier oral arguments (B) “Modern connected humankind is trying to determine its position backwards.” — Playwright David Mamet in an amicus ...

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‘Strict scrutiny’ will determine Harvard’s anti-Asian discrimination case. What is it?

January 27, 2022 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

The students suing Harvard over its race-conscious admissions process are asking a simple question: What is Harvard’s compelling interest in discriminating against Asian Americans?  Harvard’s attorneys will soon be trying to answer that question in front of the Supreme Court: The Court just granted cert in Students for Fair Admissions ...

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John McWhorter says ‘woke racism’ hurts black college students

February 08, 2022 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

The year before California banned race-based affirmative action at state schools, only one black student out of 3,268 freshmen made honors at the University of California, San Diego. But in 1998, after the ban on racial preferences went into effect, one in five black students made honors at UC San Diego—the same ratio as white … ...

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5 hidden legal pitfalls of homeownership 

March 09, 2022 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

Everyone knows that homeownership comes with certain annoying, practical concerns. Let’s crib from Donald Rumsfeld and call these the “known unknowns.”   For example: We all know our property taxes will go up—we just don’t know when or how much. We know we’ll someday be hit with costly repairs—maybe to fix plumbin ...

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The Supreme Court is beholden to the Constitution—not voters 

April 11, 2022 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

In his April 8 New York Times column, Jamelle Bouie accuses the Supreme Court of being focused on “the interests and prerogatives of powerful political minorities—you might call them factions—that seek to dominate others free of federal interference.”   Bouie says that Americans frustrated with the Court might wish to get rid of j ...

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Reverse Robin Hood—How private firms profit from home equity theft

May 02, 2022 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. That’s the opposite of what’s happening in Massachusetts, where home equity theft allows the state to steal homes from struggling, low-income families and give them to private investment firms.   It should be said: Companies that profit from home equity theft—the unconscionable gov ...

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The nondelegation doctrine, as illustrated by The X-Files

June 02, 2022 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

Depending on who you ask, the nondelegation doctrine is either “a fable that originalists tell themselves” (The Atlantic) or “the only realistic way to arrest the gradual slide of our government into the hands of the administrative state” (National Review).   It is crucially important, yet rarely discussed. “If you a ...

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A Wisconsin ballet ends with a court discussion of nondelegation

July 26, 2022 | By ETHAN YANG

There is a legal reckoning on the horizon.   At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments delegated an extraordinary amount of power to unelected public health officials.   Now, two and a half years into the pandemic, the public is still grappling with the consequences of this unprecedented transfer of power from elected ...

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Government blocks much-needed birth center in Georgia

September 01, 2022 | By NICOLE W.C. YEATMAN

A great test of any society is whether it takes good care of pregnant women and babies.   The State of Georgia is currently failing that test.  Georgia has the worst maternal mortality rate in the country—that is to say, more women die in childbirth in Georgia than in any other state.   The financial website … ...