Welcome to this week’s humble newsletter, recapping some highlights from the past week in constitutional law. If you have not yet done so, please upgrade below to receive my weekly Friday posts:
If you cannot, then please do consider sharing this newsletter:
Thanks! Now let’s dive in.
News Desk - This Week’s Top Ten Headlines
Judge Hands Down Light Sentence to Attempted Kavanaugh Murderer
As often is the case, the biggest news surrounding the Supreme Court had little to do with constitutional law, but fits instead into the national conversation. As I mentioned in Newsletter #10, the attempted assassin of Justice Kavanaugh recently entered the issue of their transgender identity into their defense. This week, Judge Deborah Boardman used this identity to justify sentencing the defendant to only eight of the 30 years requested by the prosecution. Last year, Judge Boardman issued the order overturned in Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025), okaying a school district’s use of curriculum in violation of parental religious rights in the school district Justice Kavanaugh’s kids attended. In discussing her sentencing, she voiced concern over the new federal policy of separating inmates by biological sex, worrying that Nicholas (now Sophie) would be around men in prison. How terribly traumatic for the poor little aspiring murderer.Supreme Court Adds Five New Cases to Fall Docket
The Court added a handful of new cases from its first fall conference, including a challenge to a Hawaii gun control laws, Cuba’s liability for 1960s property confiscations, a Michigan estate’s claim to unfair compensation after a property foreclosure, and a dispute over a federal law’s impact on state claims against negligent motor carrier brokers. The cases join the Court’s already packed docket of over twenty cases scheduled for the upcoming months.Supreme Court Pauses Mass Migration Order
In the most recent development in Noem v. National TPS Alliance, the Court, in a brief Friday order, allowed the Trump administration to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelan nationals under DHS’s pause of the program. Justice Jackson dissented, claiming “lives hang in the balance” of the decision. Eventually, this case will be dealt with on the merits and finished, but until then, it crops back up every few weeks.Court Temporarily Blocks Use of Troops in Portland
Yesterday, a federal court granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) to the State of Oregon and the City of Portland, blocking the Trump administration’s federalization and deployment of National Guard troops to the city, finding the action likely exceeded the President’s authority under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 and therefore violated the Tenth Amendment. “This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” the Court said. Next up, Illinois.Appeals Court Emphatically Rejects Birthright Citizenship Argument
In a case unrelated to the current appeal at the Supreme Court, the First Circuit issued a unanimous opinion against the government’s defense of Executive Order 14160, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” The “fundamental question that these cases raise about the scope of birthright citizenship,” the court says, is easy, “which may explain why it has been more than a century since a branch of our government has made as concerted an effort as the Executive Branch now makes to deny Americans their birthright.”Lower Court Dismisses Case Against Man Who Assaulted Guardsmen
On Wednesday, a federal court dismissed with prejudice a misdemeanor charge against Omari Juan Beidleman for assaulting Mississippi National Guardsmen, denying the government’s motion to dismiss without prejudice so it could prosecute him in D.C. Superior Court. The court found the government’s attempt to shift forums after Beidleman asserted his speedy trial rights an improper tactical advantage. The dismissal with prejudice protects Beidleman from the threat of re-prosecution in federal court for assaulting the troopers.Court Rules Speech-Based Deportations Unconstitutional
On Tuesday, a lower court ruled in AAUP v. Rubio that the Trump administration’s policy of targeting non-citizen students and academics for deportation based on pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel speech violates the First Amendment, affirming that legally present noncitizens have the same speech protections as citizens.States Sue Over New DOJ Immigration Status Policy
A coalition of 20 Democratic states sued the DOJ for withholding federal grant funds from domestic violence survivors unable to verify their immigration status. The lawsuit challenges a policy update that prohibits charging legal service costs for undocumented immigrants against grant awards. The states seek a court order to block this rule before it takes effect.Another Redistricting Lawsuit Filed Ahead of SCOTUS Case
Sixteen plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Missouri challenging a new law that redistricts a Democrat-held congressional district into a Republican-leaning seat, alleging it violates the Missouri Constitution. The lawsuit joins similar legal challenges in states like Texas and California ahead of the Supreme Court’s consideration of racial redistricting in Louisiana v. Callais.Supreme Court Stays Firing of Lisa Cook Pending Ruling
The Court on stayed President Trump’s termination of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook pending oral arguments in January. Whether the Court uses this case or Trump v. Slaughter, involving the FCC Commissioner, to overrule Humphrey’s Executor is a more important question than Lisa Cook’s job security.
Picks of the Week - Articles Worth Your Time
The Anatomy of Constitutional Despair
Source: Law & Liberty | Author: Paul Moreno | Link
Another repudiation of Jill Lepore’s recent book.
Justice Barrett on Common Good Constitutionalism
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy | Author: Jonathan Adler | Link
Justice Barrett is right. Common Good constitutionalism is a joke.
Is the U.S. experiencing a constitutional crisis?
Source: The Steamboat Institute | Debaters: Jonathan Turley & Daniel Farbman | Link
Not technically an article, but worth a watch nonetheless. Of course, the answer is no.
Papers and Research - Serious Scholarly Selections
In place of my usual 2-3 picks, I am going to encourage every reader, especially those familiar with Article V, to read Stephen Sach’s new paper, Restoring Conventions, One Amendment at a Time. In only 18 pages, he raises very important questions about the Article V process in a fair and neural way. I plan to follow his train of thought in writing my Article V articles in November, and hope you board the train too.
That’s a wrap! Thank you for reading. Like and share below, and I’ll see you Friday!
In liberty,
Ethan Savka