Commentary on American Law
This site collects original commentary on American law, organized into eight practice areas chosen because the doctrine inside each one is doing something worth explaining: a circuit split that has not resolved, a standard a court left deliberately open, two states reaching opposite results on facts a layperson would call identical. Each piece traces a line of authority from the case or statute that created it through to the disagreement or gap a practitioner working in that area still has to navigate today.
Every claim is checked against the primary source it describes, a published opinion or the text of a statute, rather than against a secondary summary of one; the full practice is set out on the page explaining how pieces are sourced and corrected. Editorial pieces run without a byline; anything reaching this site from outside that process is marked as such. Coverage spans education, health, environmental, criminal, procedural, media, family and corporate practice, listed below with a short account of what each one currently covers.
What the Review covers
- Education Law
Voucher programs tested against state constitutions rather than the First Amendment, and how far a school's authority reaches once a student is off campus.
- Health and End of Life Law
Civil commitment standards that still vary by state statute, mental health parity enforcement, and how the law treats decisions made near the end of life.
- Environmental and Property Law
Regulatory takings doctrine after the Supreme Court's recent exactions cases, and state constitutional environmental rights that sat unused for decades.
- Criminal Law
The reach of a governor's clemency and reprieve power, and how lower courts read a fractured Supreme Court plurality once the votes do not line up.
- Courts and Procedure
Class arbitration narrowed by the Supreme Court, and expert testimony admitted under standards that still differ from one state's courts to the next.
- Media and Speech Law
The right of publicity in a world of user generated content, and anti-SLAPP protection for the ordinary consumer review a business wants taken down.
- Family Law
Legal parentage where more than two adults are involved, and tribal criminal jurisdiction restored by federal statute over a narrow class of offenders.
- Corporate and Securities Law
Delaware's business judgment rule and the conduct that costs a board its presumption, and civil RICO's narrowed but still live role in fraud claims.
Recent commentary
- Off Campus Student Speech After Mahanoy
Education Law
- Advance Directives and Surrogate Authority
Health and End of Life Law
- State Constitutional Environmental Rights Provisions
Environmental and Property Law
- Executive Clemency and the Reprieve Power
Criminal Law
- Expert Admissibility in State Courts
Courts and Procedure
- Anti-SLAPP Statutes and Consumer Review Protection
Media and Speech Law
- Legal Parentage Beyond Two Parents
Family Law
- Civil RICO as a Securities Fraud Remedy
Corporate and Securities Law