By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) The Affordable Care Act (ACA)—President Obama’s foremost legislative accomplishment—has seen countless challenges in court. That continued last week, eight years after the law was first passed, when Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth ruled the ACA unconstitutional on the grounds that the individual mandate exceeds congressional powers...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) On November 30th, Sue McCarthy—Pomona College’s Title IX Coordinator—sent an email to the student body regarding the Trump Administration’s proposed regulations to govern investigation and adjudication of sexual misconduct on college campuses. The reversal of Obama-era guidelines have stirred controversy and stoked division for their new approach to long...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) The U.S. Supreme Court answers many questions of serious importance: what are the limits of free speech? Are LGBTQ Americans protected against discrimination? Do corporations have constitutional rights? But, at times, the questions that face the court can seem far more trivial, thought no less consequential. Such is the case in Nix v. Hedden, which forced the...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) In 2015, over twenty adolescents between the ages of 11 and 21 took the initiative to sue the federal government for its role in climate change. The story received international attention, in large part because of the legal standing of the plaintiffs. Three years after it first made headlines, the case, Juliana vs. United States et al., has yet to undergo a formal...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) The right to vote forms the bedrock of democracy, but even the foundational principle of enfranchisement remains a topic of contention. The 2018 midterm elections have resurfaced the debate on voting rights along mostly partisan lines, with Republicans advocating for ballot integrity and Democrats pushing for accessibility, especially for marginalized groups. A...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) As November 6th nears and contentious political races come to a close, millions of Americans will decide upon a range of candidates and ballot measures to determine the country’s political future. One such proposed statute appearing on the ballots of several states (including Oklahoma, Nevada, Kentucky, and Georgia) is Marsy’s Law, a proposed constitutional...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) The widespread coverage of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing has brought the Supreme Court nomination process to national spotlight once again. It appears that with every justice nominated to the highest court, scrutiny increases and polarization grows. From accusations as grave as Anita Hill’s testimony regarding now-justice Claremont Thomas, to those as...
By Bryce Watchell (PO ’21) Throughout his presidential campaign and administration, President Trump’s agenda has frequently featured anti-Islam rhetoric, which manifested itself in a “Muslim ban,” later renamed a “travel ban.” Following his initial mention of the ban, lawyers, judges, and politicians from across the political spectrum rejected the proposal on the constitutional basis of religious...
By Bryce Watchell (PO ’21) Last week’s post outlined the origin of corporate personhood, dating all the way back to the early 19th century, when Dartmouth College sought Constitutional protections afforded to individuals up until that point. Then, following Society for Propagation of Gospel v. Town of Pawlet and Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, the grounds for corporate...
By Bryce Watchell (PO ’21) “Corporate personhood” sounds like an oxymoron, and yet it is a fundamental component of the American judicial system. The Supreme Court time and time again has affirmed that corporations have rights in many capacities: they can own property, sue and be sued, enter into binding contracts, and be held liable in a court of law. However, these abilities are not unlimited:...
