You’re driving down the road; you glance down at the speedometer and see that you’re driving right at the speed limit. Then, you see flashing lights in your rear-view mirror. You pull over and a police officer orders you to step out of your car. The ... [Read more...]
Teachers, Guns, and Schools: Issues of Local Law
Recently, a small school district in eastern Pennsylvania became the first school district in the state to permit teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons in schools. The measure, which the school board passed unanimously, ... [Read more...]
State Gun Laws and Ballot Measures
During the 2018 midterms, Washington State asked voters to consider a ballot initiative outlining one of the most sweeping platforms of gun safety laws in the nation; the initiative passed with 60 percent of the vote. Initiative 1639 took a broad ... [Read more...]
Voter ID Law Review
As election day approaches, there is plenty of debate over the status of individual races – will Georgia turn blue? Will the Democrats succeed in flipping the House? A more pressing question for some voters may be whether they have the correct ... [Read more...]
California’s Net Neutrality Law
Society’s increasing reliance on technology for communication and entertainment has raised important questions about access to the internet and how (or even if) that access should be regulated. Concerns have coalesced in a debate over net neutrality. ... [Read more...]
Older People and Voter IDs
A 2017 report by Democratic Senators Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota identified a number of barriers to voting for older Americans, including closure of voting locations, hard-to-reach polling places, and limits on ... [Read more...]
The Shape of a District: Gerrymandering and Political Power
With a little over two months remaining until the November midterm elections, three federal judges of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that North Carolina’s map of congressional districts had been drawn to offer a deliberate and ... [Read more...]
Understanding Claims of Voter Fraud
Over the past few years, the news has been full of claims of voter fraud: vague and terrifying allegations that the American electoral process has been undermined by deliberate efforts to subvert the system. “Voter fraud” evokes the image of people ... [Read more...]
What Is Executive Privilege?
Over the past year, you’ve probably read or heard something about “executive privilege.” It’s an impressive-sounding phrase that seems to suggest great power, but you may wonder what sorts of actions it covers and when it can be invoked. Probably ... [Read more...]
FCC Votes to End Net Neutrality
Most people can agree that the internet is playing an increasingly important role in our everyday lives. As a result, any change that impacts the regulation of the internet and our ability to access it quickly becomes a newsworthy topic. When the FCC ... [Read more...]