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Pamela S. Karlan is Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law at Stanford Law School and coauthor of Keeping Faith with the Constitution. She writes a bimonthly BR column, Karlan's Court, concerning law, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution.
Strange bedfellows on the bench are a source and a sign of the Constitution’s flexibility.
The framers of the Constitution did not anticipate political parties.
In the marriage and voting rights cases, the world outside powerfully affected the court.
The Constitution assigns the job of carrying out its vision to all the branches of government, not just to the judiciary.
Justice Scalia betrayed originalist interpretation when he defended an individual right to own guns.
Today, the vast majority of felony defendants depend on appointed counsel to represent them, and the quality of representation varies wildly.
When Obama was sworn into office, there were 55 vacancies on the federal bench. There are now more than 75.
Pam Karlan on the Supreme Court’s Health Care Ruling.
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That’s what sociologist Alondra Nelson says of Boston Review. Independent and nonprofit, we believe in the power of collective reasoning and imagination to create a more just world.
That’s why there are no paywalls on our website, but we can’t do it without the support of our readers. Please make a tax-deductible donation to help us create a more inclusive and egalitarian public sphere—open to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.