Professor of Law. Writer. Books include Dressing Constitutionally; Sappho Goes to Law School; A/K/A
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Articles by Ruthann Robson
The Sexual Misconduct of Donald J. Trump: Toward a Misogyny Report
The numerous allegations of sexual misconduct—unwanted, unwelcome, often aggressive sexual behavior—levied against Donald Trump merit attention and redress. Despite obstacles to civil remedies, there has been some litigation, but it has mostly been unsatisfactory. The many allegations reported in the media have not been amenable to judicial, legislative, executive, or political resolution.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Tuesday, April 17, 2018 Daily Read: Curing the Inequality of Privacy Protections Whose privacy counts? Whose privacy should count? While these questions could be asked across many doctrines, one intersection occurs in the origins of privacy, including the tort remedies for its invasion.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Monday, October 5, 2020 Obergefell as Precedent: First Monday in October On the first Monday in October, the United States Supreme Court begins its Term, this time with only eight of the usual nine Justices given Justice Ginsburg's death in September. In today's Order List of the Term, the Court denied certiorari in Davis v. Ermold to the Sixth Circuit's decision that court clerk Kim Davis did not have immunity from a damages suit.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Monday, June 15, 2020 SCOTUS Interprets Title VII to Include LGBTQ Identities In its opinion in the consolidated cases of Bostock v. Clayton County, the United States Supreme Court interpreted the prohibition of discrimination "because of sex" in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §2000e et. seq. to include sexual and transgender identities. As we discussed in our preview, two of the consolidated cases involved sexual orientation discrimination - Altitude Express v.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 Second Circuit: Police Use of LRAD May Violate Fourteenth Amendment In its unanimous opinion in Edrei v. Maguire (Bratton), a panel of the Second Circuit upheld the the denial of a motion to dismiss a complaint alleging excessive force under the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause by police officers using a LRAD - - - long-range acoustic device - - - during a protest.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Wednesday, March 4, 2020 SCOTUS Hears Oral Arguments in June Medical Abortion Case Will this be the case in which the Supreme Court decides to overrule the almost half-century precedent of Roe v. Wade (1973)? The Court heard oral arguments in June Medical Services v. Russo (formerly Gee), but Roe v. Wade was not mentioned. Planned Parenthood of SE Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) was mentioned only once, but Justice Breyer in the context of standing of physicians.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Thursday, January 2, 2020 Daily Read: Crenshaw & MacKinnon Propose a New Equality Amendment In their article, Reconstituting the Future: The Equality Amendment, well-known feminist theorists Catharine A. MacKinnon & Kimberlé W. Crenshaw have argued that equality needs to be re-envisioned in an intersectional and progressive manner requiring constitutional amendment.
The Mueller Investigation and Beyond
ISBN 978-1-5310-1675-3 e-ISBN 978-1-5310-1676-0 The Mueller Investigation and Beyond by Ellen S. Podgor, Katrice Bridges Copeland, Michael R. Dimino, Sr., Ruthann Robson, Louis J. Virelli, III, Andrew M. Wright, Ellen C.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Monday, November 4, 2019 Another Defamation Lawsuit Against Trump Connected to Sexual Misconduct In a 28 page complaint filed in New York state courts opening the case Carroll v. Trump, E. Jean Carroll has sued the president for one count of defamation.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In an opinion in Jones v. DeSantis, United States District Judge Robert Hinkle of the Northern District of Florida held that the Florida statute requiring payment of fines, fees, and costs in order for a person convicted of a felony to have their voting rights restored is unconstitutional and should be enjoined. Recall that Florida law disenfranchising persons convicted of felonies, held unconstitutional in 2018, was changed by a voter referendum to amend the Florida Constitution. Amendment 4.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Wednesday, October 9, 2019 Daily Read: The Contempt Power of Congress The practice and the announcement of the White House that it will not cooperate with the House of Representatives Impeachment Inquiry as we discussed here, raises the question of the resources available to Congress to enforce its subpoenas.
Let It Rip " The Trump Impeachment Saga " CUNY TV " City University Television
Tweet Original tape date: October 8, 2019. First aired: October 15, 2019. Mike Gilliam, joined by former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Norman Siegel; CUNY Constitutional law professor, Ruthann Robson; and Community organizer, Omowale Clay, break down the specificities of the U.S. impeachment process, as well as examine the congressional impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump and what may be it's political ramifications.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Sunday, October 6, 2019 SCOTUS Terms Begins With LGBTQ Title VII Cases The United States Supreme Courts 2019 Term begins with oral arguments in three cases that will impact LGBTQ equality. To be clear, the Court is not considering constitutional law issues. Instead all three cases involve statutory interpretation of the prohibition of discrimination "because of sex" in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §2000e et. seq.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
With the news that the House of Representatives has launched an impeachment inquiry, many of us could use some explainers or refreshers on the rarely-used constitutional process of impeachment. First, the Constitutional text.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In its opinion and judgment in R. (on behalf of Miller) v. The Prime Minister and Cherry and others v. Advocate General for Scotland, the U.K. Supreme Court considered whether "the advice given by the Prime Minister to Her Majesty the Queen on 27th or 28th August 2019 that Parliament should be prorogued from a date between 9th and 12th September until 14th October was lawful." The Court's eleven Justices unanimously held it was not.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Monday, September 23, 2019 New York Judge Orders Trump to Testify in Protest Tort Case In her Order in Galicia v. Trump, Judge Doris Gonzalez has ordered that President Trump appear for a videotaped deposition prior to trial to provide testimony for use at trial in this tort case.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Tuesday, September 17, 2019 Arizona Supreme Court Finds Religious Exemption for Same-Sex Wedding Invitations Despite Nondiscrimination Ordinance In lengthy and sharply divided opinion in Brush & Nib Studio v.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Thursday, June 27, 2019 SCOTUS Finds Partisan Gerrymandering Non-Justiciable Political Question In its opinion in Rucho v. Common Cause, consolidated with Lamone v. Benisek, a sharply divided United States Supreme Court decided that the judicial branch has no role to play in challenges to redistricting based upon partisan gerrymandering. Recall that Rucho involved the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In its opinion in Animal Defense League Fund v. Wadsen, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit largely affirmed the injunction of Idaho's so-called "Ag-Gag" law, Idaho Code § 18-7042. Recall that Chief Judge B. Lynn Winmill concluded that portions of the statute violated the First Amendment and enjoined them in 2015.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In a Complaint filed today in the Eastern District of New York in New York v. Trump, fifteen states and the District of Columbia have challenged the rescission of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, covering 800,000 people in the United States who are not citizens but who have been residents since childhood.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
UPON CONSIDERATION of the application of counsel for the applicants, IT IS ORDERED that the order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, case No. SA-11-CV-360, entered August 15, 2017, is hereby stayed pending receipt of a response, due on or before Tuesday, September 5, 2017, by 3 p.m., and further order of the undersigned or of the Court.
Lawmakers across the US are finding ways to turn protesting into a crime
While there were many moments during the president’s first official trip abroad that were disconcerting to First Amendment advocates — including the failure to hold open press conferences — perhaps none was more chilling than the comments made by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross as he took note of the lack of protesters during the visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: “Not one guy with a bad placard,” he said, approvingly, seemingly interpreting this as a sign of President Donald Trump’s...
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
The federal district judge in Aziz v. Trump, having previously granted the Motion of the State of Virginia to intervene, has granted a Preliminary Injunction against section 3(c) of the President's Executive Order Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States, commonly known as the "Muslim Ban" or "Travel Ban." The judge's order is supported by a 22 page Memorandum Opinion.
A constitutional expert explains the issues at stake in Trump’s travel ban
A federal judge in Washington state has imposed a temporary restraining order that prevents enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning residents from seven countries from entering the United States — either as refugees or as travelers. But whether that injunction will be upheld will be decided soon by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, by reputation one of the most liberal appellate courts in the nation.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In his opinion in Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Cortes, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Gerald Pappert has rejected the Equal Protection, Due Process, and First Amendment constitutional challenges to the state election code provision §2687(b) requiring poll watchers to be qualified electors of the county in which they serve.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Oklahoma's three-drug lethal injection protocol tomorrow, the last day of scheduled oral arguments for the Term. Here's an excerpt from my preview of the case, Glossip v. Gross, for the ABA Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases, with permission: For many years, Oklahoma administered the death penalty using a three-drug lethal-injection protocol that included sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Justice Ginsburg's comments about presidential candidate Donald Trump have caused controversy and invited comparisons with the late Justice Scalia's remarks and relationship with a sitting Vice President and his refusal to recuse himself from a case involving the VP which Scalia himself described as "heroic" in an interview. (Amy Howe for SCOTUSBlog has a great round-up of commentary on the controversy; Howard Bashman also has a good list).
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In a relatively brief opinion in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, a panel of the Sixth Circuit found that Ohio's false campaign statute, Ohio Rev. Code § 3517.21(B)(9), violates the First Amendment. Recall that the Sixth Circuit had previously decided that the constitutional challenge was not ripe for review, but that the United States Supreme Court unanimously reversed in June 2014. On remand, District Judge Timothy Black concluded that the statute violated the First Amendment.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Justice Souter - - - retired from the United States Supreme Court but sitting by designation on a First Circuit panel - - - declined to extend the Court's decision in Harris v. Quinn to the context of home child care workers in the opinion in D'Agostino v. Baker. At issue was Massachusetts Gen. Laws ch. 15D, § 17(b), providing that family child care providers "shall be considered public employees . . . solely for the purposes of . . .
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In an opinion denying a motion to dismiss in Love v. Johnson, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan Nancy Edmunds has concluded there is a fundamental privacy right in one's transgender status under the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. The constitutional challenge is to Michigan's policy for changing the sex designation on state-issued identification, including drivers licenses.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
It's Constitution Day - September 17 - and federal law mandates that Each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on September 17 of such year for the students served by the educational institution. Department of Education regulations provide that the law requires that Constitution Day be held on September 17 of each year, commemorating the September 17, 1787 signing of the Constitution.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In its opinion in Munroe v. Central Bucks School District, a divided panel of the Third Circuit found that a public school teacher's blog posts about students did not "rise to the level of constitutionally protected expression" under the First Amendment and thus they could be the basis of her termination. Agreeing with the district judge, the majority thus concluded that the balancing test of Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) was not satisfied.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Reports that Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members are considering a rally in Columbia, South Carolina to support the controversial display of the confederate battle flag evokes images of hooded persons in traditional KKK garb.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
In its opinion in United States v. Pierce, the Second Circuit considered the arguments of co-defendant/appellant Melvin Colon regarding the admissibility of a rap video and images of tattoos in the criminal trial.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
The United States Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on April 28 in the same-sex marriage cases, now styled as Obergefell v. Hodges, a consolidated appeal from the Sixth Circuit’s decision in DeBoer v. Snyder, reversing the district court decisions in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, that had held the same-sex marriage bans unconstitutional, and creating a circuit split.
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Federal District Judge Callie V. S. Granade has issued her 8 page Order in Strawser v. Strange regarding the applicability of her previous decision finding Alabama's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. Accordingly, the Court once again makes the following declaration: It is ORDERED and DECLARED that ALA. CONST. ART. I, § 36.03 (2006) and ALA. CODE 1975 § 30-1-19 are unconstitutional because they violate the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Lavender Bruises: Intra-Lesbian Violence, Law and Lesbian Legal Theory
This Article seeks to elucidate the confusion between sexuality and violence that confounds legal treatments of intra-lesbian violence. This confusion is both explicitly and implicitly revealed in judicial decisions and legislative enactments. A distinct but intertwined task of this Article is to situate intra-lesbian violence within the development of a lesbian legal theory.
Striving to Be Selfish
In “Striving to Be Selfish,” Ruthann Robson explores the different kinds of selfishness it takes to be a writer and a dyke, especially the necessary focus on the higher self. Distinguishing the writer from the author (and the dyke from the lesbian), she argues that there is an almost spiritual dimension to the practices of writing and sex.
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