“We believe that sons and daughters are equal. By increasing the marriage age of women from [eighteen] to [twenty-one], the government wants to enable ‘desh ki beti’[1] to build a career for herself and become Aatmanirbhar.[2]” These were the words stated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of […]
Constitutional Law
Laws regulating abortion have been around longer than modern abortion techniques, first appearing as early as 1500 BC.[1] Since then abortion has become one of the safest medical procedures available – patients have a higher chance of suffering a serious complication during a colonoscopy, wisdom-teeth removal, or a tonsillectomy than […]
When President Biden entered office, many of the previous administration’s restrictive policies were terminated, such as the travel and visa restrictions or the Muslim ban.[1] However, the administration was not prepared to also handle the large number of migrants arriving at the border.[2] It is not the amount of immigrants […]
Section One of the Fifteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution plainly states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”[1] However, U.S. citizens with […]
The United States has a controversial history with immigration. For one, the United States is mythologized as a nation of immigrants—with the exception of Native Americans. However, since the country’s founding, Congress has passed, and the Supreme Court has upheld, statutes excluding certain groups of people from immigrating to the […]
Forty-five years ago, in Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the right to an abortion is a fundamental liberty, and where certain “fundamental rights” are involved, regulation limiting these rights may be justified only by a “compelling state interest.”[2] Later, in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey,[3] the Court […]
Vagueness doctrine has primarily been used as a tool for defendants to challenge their convictions or arrests.[1] Its core value is that laws should “give the person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, so that he may act accordingly.”[2] Two separate justifications backed up this doctrine: first, that […]
Among the top agendas of the current Trump administration is the implementation of a series of reforms to conventional immigration law and practice. These reforms include a sharp uptick of arrests and deportations for illegal immigrants, attempts to ban entry to certain Muslim countries, and, of course, plans to build […]
The Fourteenth Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” This guarantees citizenship to many who are born within the United States. This clause extends citizenship regardless of […]
The United States Attorney General has the power to refer cases that are pending appellate review from the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to themselves for review.[2] This process is called “referral and review.”[3] In the past, Attorneys General rarely used this power.[4] But in his short-lived tenure as Attorney […]