Abstract In the last decade, the Supreme Court has heard a number of high-profile cases holding potential for major progressive reform which hinge crucially on the Justices accepting, or at least not rejecting, the findings of social science experts. Time and again, however, the Court has found ways to ignore, minimize, or misconstrue the work of highly-qualified social scientists, with Chief...
Abortion Regulation as Compelled Speech
This Article outlines a novel First Amendment compelled speech claim against a growing body of abortion restrictions, including fetal demise and burial laws, premised on a state interest in “expressing respect for potential life.” It weaves Fourteenth Amendment limitations together with developments set out last year in NIFLA v. Becerra to demonstrate that the Court’s expanding First Amendment...
Reversal Rates in Capital Cases in Texas, 2000–2020
A death row inmate who challenges either his conviction or sentence in postconviction proceedings can be said to succeed if he obtains either a new guilt-phase trial, a new sentencing-phase trial, or a commutation of his death sentence. This Article reports on the success rates of death row inmates in Texas for those who arrived on death row on or after January 1, 2000, up until December 31, 2019...