Gosnell: A Murderer, but an Aberration?

By Richard Garnett May 13, 2013

It is a good thing that the Philadelphia jury convicted Kermit Gosnell of murder, because it is in fact clear that he committed murder. For the jury to have done otherwise, ...

A ‘Partisan’ Caricature of Chief Justice Rehnquist

By Richard Garnett October 19, 2012

One of the greatest blessings of my life was the opportunity to work for a year as a law clerk to the former chief justice, William Rehnquist. As I wrote ...

The Seventh Circuit Makes a Mess of the Establishment Clause

By Richard Garnett July 24, 2012

Take the time to read the opinions — especially Judge Richard Posner’s dissent — in Doe v. Elmbrook School District. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, en banc, ...

Conservatives’ Misguided Criticism of Roberts

By Richard Garnett June 28, 2012

Michael Walsh’s post on the Corner echoes some things I’ve been reading in the right-leaning sectors of the blogosphere, and that I hope do not catch on. The suggestion is that ...

Lawsuits Seek to Vindicate Religious Freedom

By Richard Garnett May 21, 2012

Today, a large and diverse group of plaintiffs — including health-care providers, universities and schools, and social-welfare agencies — filed lawsuits in a dozen federal courts, challenging the administration’s rule ...

A Very Bad Religious-Freedom Opinion in Massachusetts

By Richard Garnett March 27, 2012

Even during a week when the attention of the Whole World is fixed on a certain Big Case in the Supreme Court of the United States, it would be a ...

A Win for Religious Freedom

By Richard Garnett January 11, 2012

Sometimes the news from 1 First Street is really, really good. Today, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in what some observers (ahem) had called one of the most ...

In Defense of Garnett’s Defense of Daniels

By Richard Garnett February 9, 2011

Carrie Severino, whose work I admire and appreciate, “respectfully dissents” from my recent defense of my governor, Mitch Daniels, and specifically from my suggestion that his “record on judicial appointments” ...

Dean Chemerinsky’s Critique of the Roberts Court

By Richard Garnett October 4, 2010

 I believe that it is particularly important that those of us in the legal academy do what we can — even when writing hard-hitting and critical commentary about the Court’s ...

Breyer’s Idea of Restraint

By Richard Garnett September 30, 2010

According to Lincoln Caplan, writing a few days ago in the New York Times, Justice Breyer rightly appreciates that the Court’s “legitimacy in the public’s eyes” cannot be taken for ...