Constitutional Law: A Review of the 2022-23 Term of SCOTUS -- and a Preview of the 2023-24 Term

Mr. Paul Clement Related Seminars and Products

Clement & Murphy PLLC

Former Solicitor General of the United States, Paul Clement has argued over 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court, more than any other living practitioner at least in the last quarter century.  He is expected to argue one of the most significant cases before the Court in the 2023-24 term challenging the Chevron doctrine of presumptive administrative agency deference.  

Among other prominent cases, Clement argued McConnell v. FEC (upholding soft money limits on political contributions), Tennessee v. Lane (finding the ADA constitutional in requiring public entities to accommodate disabled persons), U.S. v. Booker (holding unconstitutional strict judicial adherence to the federal sentencing guidelines without considering other factors), MGM v. Grokster (file sharing service in direct violation of copyright), NFIB v. Sebelius (holding, inter alia, for the first time in history that federal spending dictates are unconstitutional if coercive), Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (private employer need not supply contraceptives under RFRA), Epic Systems v. Lewis (employee arbitration agreements requiring individuated claims are not amenable to class-type treatment under the NLRA), Rucho v. Common Cause (partisan gerrymandering is a political question not typically subject to judicial review), Facebook v. Duguid (text message is not equivalent to autodialing under autodialing statute), and TransUnion v. Ramirez (concrete harm must be shown to have standing to sue civilly under Fair Credit Reporting Act).  Clement also has served pro bono in many cases, e.g., Kennedy v. Bremerton (high school football coach cannot be constrained from personal religious observance after games).   

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky Related Seminars and Products

University of California, Berkeley

While serving as dean of Berkeley’s law school, Erwin Chemerinsky continues as the author of the leading Constitutional Law textbook.  He also is the author most recently of the book Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism (Yale 2022), arguing against Justice Scalia’s version of originalism because, despite the facial allures of originalism, the theory is practically unworkable and conceptually incoherent, producing hypocritical outcomes and even morally abhorrent results if applied rigorously. 

Chemerinsky also comments occasionally on matters of contemporary constitutional significance, e.g., “A federal judge’s gag order against Trump may be satisfying.  But it isn’t constitutional,” L.A. Times, October 17, 2023.  Chemerinsky was president of the American Association of Law Schools during 2021-22, and has argued several cases at the United States Supreme Court.      

Mr. David G. Oedel Related Seminars and Products

Mercer University School of Law