By Christian I. Bale
Freedom of speech is like baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie. Whereas one survey found that less than half of Americans can name the three branches of the federal government, another showed that 64 percent of Americans can recall that the First Amendment protects free speech . . .
By David Rangaviz and Miranda Jang
Under what circumstances can a citizen be forced to unlock their smartphone for government inspection? On March 6, 2019, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Dennis Jones, in which the Court held that the government can compel a suspect to unlock their smartphone, and so disclose all of its contents, if it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect knows the passcode to the phone in question. The SJC held that the only “testimonial” aspect to an act of decryption is just the person saying that he or she knows the code to the target phone. Jones was the first decision from any state supreme court in the country to set out the constitutional rules around compelled decryption, which is one of the most significant self-incrimination issues in the digital age . . .
By Michael Conklin
In her new book The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts, Joan Biskupic provides insight into the personal and professional life of the seventeenth Chief Justice. Joan Biskupic, The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts (2019). The intriguing format of the book does so in a very interesting way—instead of simply reporting significant events in the life of John Roberts, it guides the reader on a chronological journey through Roberts’s life with concurrent landmark Supreme Court cases providing a backdrop along the way . . .
By Laurel Newman
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) recently affirmed Michelle Carter’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the suicide of Conrad Roy. The case has been especially newsworthy since before the trial occurred, due to Ms. Carter’s indictment resting solely on spoken and written words that the Commonwealth says coerced the victim to commit suicide. As this author previously wrote, this case is the first where a defendant has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter without doing any physical act . . .
By R Spooner
Although Justice Sotomayor often joins the same opinions as Justice Ginsburg, they do depart on an important philosophy of judging. Justice Ginsburg has maintained that her gender makes no difference to judging. Justice Sotomayor, while still a Circuit Court judge, made a speech questioning the famous notion that a wise old woman and a wise old man would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases. She famously said, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” See Charlie Savage, A Judge’s View of Judging Is on the Record, NY Times (May 15, 2009). Not surprisingly, this quote got a lot of play during Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings . . .
By R Spooner
The award for most unsatisfying decision of the Supreme Court’s 2017–18 term goes to Masterpiece Cakeshop. Masterpiece Cakeshop is a bakery owned by Jack Phillips, a man whose religion holds same-sex marriage to be a sin. When a gay couple went into the bakery to order a wedding cake, Phillips refused. He was willing to sell other types of baked goods to LGBTQ customers, just not wedding cakes. The bakery is located in Colorado, a state with a public accommodations law that protects against sexual orientation discrimination, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) . . .