It is both customary and folly for Supreme Court watchers to predict outcomes of Supreme Court cases based on oral argument. So let me engage in the customary folly.

The argument could hardly have gone better for the opponents of the Affordable Care Act. Paul Clement, the lawyer for the...

Earlier this week, I moderated a debate here at Boston College Law School offering a prominent opponent of gay marriage an opportunity to articulate why gay men and lesbians should not be permitted to wed. His key point: that straight men are too promiscuous to be trusted. Really.

Obviously, progressives disagree with conservatives over the Supreme Court's now-infamous decision in Citizens United v FEC. Conservatives laud the ruling's protection of corporate political expenditures and believe nothing needs fixing. Progressives, on the other hand, almost universally decry the Court's ham-fisted, activist ruling and rue its implications for...

Is the Occupy Wall Street movement similar to the Tea Party? Some think so, including President Obama, and they have a point. Both the Occupy movement and the Tea Party movement embody a vehement distrust of the existing political and economic power structure. Both movements give voice to...

The flavor of the moment in the GOP presidential field is Herman Cain, whose poll numbers are on the rise. The former CEO of Godfather Pizza and an African-American self-made millionaire, Cain embodies the promise of the American Dream. So people sat up and listened last week when...

This month's worst news item here in Boston was that of a toddler, Gabriel Josh-Cazir Pierre, dying after being left in a daycare van. Such stories bring dread to any parent. As a parent of a child near the same age as Gabriel, I can imagine...

The big question of the week (other than "Will Washington drive our economy off the cliff?") is "Who's to blame for this crisis?"

You might point at John Boehner and his intransigence on revenues. You might blame Grover Norquist and his inane no-tax pledge, which...

Two years ago, three people died in a sweat lodge near Sedona, Arizona, during a so-called "Spiritual Warrior" retreat led by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. Earlier this week, Ray was pronounced guilty of negligent homicide by an Arizona jury. The verdict is the correct one. Despite the...

Belgium just became the second European nation to ban the burqa and the niqab, the garments worn by some conservative Muslim women that entirely cover the body and face, with only a mesh screen or a slit for the eyes. With France's ban earlier this year and

Up until this week, I would have said that George W. Bush was the most aggressive president in modern times in exercising executive power. Now, I can honestly say President Obama is giving "W." a run for his money. This week President Obama is creating a dangerous precedent that will...

The Tea Party is a loose association of libertarian-minded activists, thinkers, and politicians. While individual supporters of the Tea Party may differ on specific proposals, the leaders of the movement have articulated a commitment to rolling back decades of legislative and constitutional changes. Here is a list of some of...

If the questions earlier this week at the Supreme Court hearing about the huge discrimination suit against Walmart are any indication -- and, with this court, they usually are -- it looks like hundreds of thousands of women are about to lose.

The case is the largest employment discrimination...

I've switched sides. I've wiped the sleepies from my eyes and awakened to the alarming truth of what the Tea Party has been telling me for the past couple of years. The government is taking over our lives, and it's time to rise up. I've seen the light because of...

Because I teach constitutional law and it's that time of year, I've recently been teaching old cases about the commerce clause. Because I live in the Boston area and it's that time of year, I've been shoveling snow from the sidewalk in front of my house. And because I've been...

A federal judge in Boston has ruled unconstitutional the portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that limits federal benefits to straight couples even in states that recognize gay marriage. This is just the first inning in a long game that will eventually end up in the Supreme...

Most commentators have been saying that the Court will not change much upon the retirement of John Paul Stevens, because Obama's pick will simply fall into the liberal slot that Stevens vacates.

But make no mistake: the Supreme Court just took a turn to the right regardless of the...

Thursday's Supreme Court decision in Citizen's United v. FEC is perhaps the most activist decision of the Supreme Court since Bush v Gore, and might be just as harmful to the nation.

There is a way out of this mess, but it will take quick action.

The...

For almost 20 years, one of the pivotal debates on the Supreme Court has been the role of states' rights in limiting the power of the federal government. In cases ranging from nuclear waste disposal, the possession of handguns in school zones, and violence against women, the conservatives on the...

It looks like we may be in the home stretch of President Obama's search for a replacement for David Souter on the Supreme Court. Once the nominee is named, the political battles will be focused and all-consuming. Before that happens, it is worthwhile to pause for one final word...

I have been thinking about Arlen Specter's switch, President Obama's upcoming speech at Notre Dame, and the size and shape of tents.

Arlen Specter's defection from the Republican party was big news this week. Jack Cafferty wondered if the Republican Party is on the "brink of irrelevance."...