Browse Items (6 total)

Under the Equal Protection Clause, states can’t (with certain exceptions) discriminate against noncitizens. But Congress can. Sometimes, Congress tries to share this power to discriminate with states. This article looks at cases in which Congress…

Federal laws sometimes preempt all state policies except those created by legislative enactment. For example, under the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, states cannot give public benefits to undocumented immigrants unless the state legislature enacts a…

Justice Sotomayor appeared before students at Albany Law School on April 3, 2017 to receive the Kate Stoneman Award, which honors the first woman to graduate from Albany Law School. The theme to which she returned to throughout her remarks is…

Atticus Finch has two kinds of integrity, but only one of them is genuinely admirable. On one hand, he is rightly admired for standing up for the things he values. On the other hand, he is also praised for being “the same in his house as he is on the…

Most theories of legal ethics try to identify a maxim for lawyers to follow, like “act zealously within the bounds of law” or “do what will best promote justice under the circumstances.” But these maxims fail to capture the ethical complexity of…

The Supreme Court has recently caused controversy by citing international legal authorities in decisions that interpret the United States Constitution. Many commentators have claimed that this is a new development, but they overlook a significant…