Constitutional Law

ON MONDAY, my constitutional law class will meet for the first time this semester, and I don't have the slightest idea what to tell the students about the subject we'll be discussing for the next 13 weeks. I've taught the class before, and by now I know most of the canonical cases as well as I know my own phone number. My problem is that I'm no longer sure there's really a subject to teach. I don't seem to be the only one confronting this problem.

As the U.S. Supreme Court hears a second day of historic arguments on gay marriage, The Times will host a live video chat at 10 a.m. Wednesday with two leading legal experts and legal affairs reporter Maura Dolan. Those experts are John Eastman, a Chapman University constitutional law professor who supports California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, and Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at UC Irvine and a constitutional law professor. Eastman told The Times on Tuesday that he was “cautiously optimistic” after listening to the arguments in the courtroom.

Robert B. McKay, 70, who headed the citizens' blue-ribbon "McKay Commission" that investigated the 1971 Attica, N.Y., prison uprising. A scholar on constitutional law, McKay began teaching at New York University Law School in 1953 and was dean from 1967 through 1975. His commission investigated the bloodiest uprising in American prison history, which occurred at Attica in upstate New York on Sept. 13, 1971. Ten hostages and 32 inmates were killed, 39 of them in an assault by state police.

WASHINGTON - President Obama says his evolution toward support for gay marriage influenced the Justice Department's decision to weigh in on the Supreme Court case challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage. “As everybody here knows, last year, upon a long period of reflection, I concluded that we cannot discriminate against same-sex couples when it comes to marriage,” Obama told reporters Friday, the day after the U.S. solicitor general filed a brief in the case challenging California's Proposition 8 ban. “When the Supreme Court essentially called the question by taking this case about California's law, I didn't feel like that was something that this administration could avoid.

Leonard G. Ratner, professor of law emeritus at USC, an authority on constitutional law and a frequent media spokesman on legal matters, died Thursday night in Palos Verdes Estates after a stroke. Ratner, 78, was one of the first to say that Congress' authority to limit appellate jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court does not permit Congress to impair other, basic issues before the high court such as abortion, school prayer and desegregation. That view is now widely accepted.

John Hart Ely, an influential constitutional law scholar and author who taught at Yale, Harvard and Stanford, where he served as dean of the law school from 1982 to 1987, has died. He was 64. Ely died Oct. 25 in Miami of cancer. He had taught at Stanford until 1996, when he moved to Florida as the Richard A. Hausler Professor of Law at the University of Miami.

Whether the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold President Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul or scrap at least the most controversial part - the requirement that most Americans have health insurance - won't be known until probably this summer, when the justices are expected to rule. But after three days of oral arguments concluded this week, four constitutional law experts weighed in on the strengths and weaknesses of the cases made by the administration's top lawyers, Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli Jr. and his deputy, Edwin Kneedler, and Paul D. Clement, solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration, who represents the 26 states challenging the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. :: Adam Winkler, UCLA constitutional law professor "To no one's surprise, Paul Clement has been extremely persuasive on the part of the challengers.

Talk about tests of faith. Douglas Kmiec is an influential Roman Catholic scholar, a veteran of Ronald Reagan's Justice Department and a Pepperdine University constitutional law professor. What he's gone through in the last handful of years, he sums up pretty well with the title of his latest book, "Lift Up Your Hearts: A true story of loving your enemies, tragically killing your friends, and the life that remains. " His interfaith work earned him President Obama's appointment as ambassador to Malta.

Confronted by a gay student at Princeton University, Justice Antonin Scalia defended his past writings comparing laws against homosexuality to those prohibiting bestiality and murder, saying he was arguing that many laws are based on society's moral feelings. “If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder?” Scalia asked in response to a question. “Can we have it against other things? I don't apologize for the things I raise.” Scalia said he was not equating homosexual conduct with bestiality or murder.

As the U.S. Supreme Court hears a second day of historic arguments on gay marriage, The Times will host a live video chat at 10 a.m. Wednesday with two leading legal experts and legal affairs reporter Maura Dolan. Those experts are John Eastman, a Chapman University constitutional law professor who supports California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, and Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at UC Irvine and a constitutional law professor. Eastman told The Times on Tuesday that he was “cautiously optimistic” after listening to the arguments in the courtroom.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- To no one's great surprise, Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that cancer-stricken Hugo Chavez does not have to take the oath of office Thursday to begin his fourth term has president, a finding that some legal experts assailed as unconstitutional. In a news conference Wednesday, Court President Luisa Estela Morales said Chavez's absence is acceptable because it is neither “temporary nor permanent” given that his service will be uninterrupted and therefore does not fall under constitutional guidelines that could have forced Chavez to be present for the swearing-in ceremony or relinquish power.

CARACAS, Venezuela - A group of constitutional law professors on Tuesday said President Hugo Chavez's absence from an oath-taking ceremony Thursday without a formal request for postponement for health reasons will make an extension of his mandate unconstitutional and a "usurpation of authority. " The law professors made their case on the same day that Vice President Nicolas Maduro confirmed widespread expectations that Chavez will not attend the inauguration because he is still recovering from Dec. 11 cancer surgery in Havana.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Diosdado Cabello, a confidant and former army comrade of President Hugo Chavez, was reelected as National Assembly president Saturday, a key position that would make him the leader in any process to begin a new election to replace Chavez should the fiery socialist die or be deemed “permanently incapacitated. " Chavez has not been seen or heard from since he left Venezuela in early December for Cuba, where he underwent his fourth surgery to treat pelvic cancer.  In sporadic and thinly detailed medical updates, officials have said he has encountered postoperative complications including “respiratory insufficiency”  that have dimmed the chances of his being present for a Jan. 10 inauguration.

CARACAS, Venezuela - The nerves of Venezuelans are sure to be tested in the coming week as the country seeks answers not only to the mystery of President Hugo Chavez's medical condition and prognosis but also to the debate over constitutional requirements should he be unable to take the oath of office Thursday to start a fourth term. On Saturday, Chavez confidant and former army comrade Diosdado Cabello was reelected as National Assembly president, a key position that would make him the leader in any process to call a new election to replace Chavez if the fiery socialist dies or is deemed "permanently incapacitated.

Confronted by a gay student at Princeton University, Justice Antonin Scalia defended his past writings comparing laws against homosexuality to those prohibiting bestiality and murder, saying he was arguing that many laws are based on society's moral feelings. “If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder?” Scalia asked in response to a question. “Can we have it against other things? I don't apologize for the things I raise.” Scalia said he was not equating homosexual conduct with bestiality or murder.

Talk about tests of faith. Douglas Kmiec is an influential Roman Catholic scholar, a veteran of Ronald Reagan's Justice Department and a Pepperdine University constitutional law professor. What he's gone through in the last handful of years, he sums up pretty well with the title of his latest book, "Lift Up Your Hearts: A true story of loving your enemies, tragically killing your friends, and the life that remains. " His interfaith work earned him President Obama's appointment as ambassador to Malta.

Former California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird will teach a constitutional law seminar at Golden Gate University School of Law next semester. Bird had been hired as the first of a series of judges to serve as visiting professors. She will teach an advanced seminar for 18 students and give two lectures.

I notice that there have been suggestions to establish the William J. Casey Memorial Fund for the Freedom Fighters. Casey and I were both in the same class (1937) at the Law School of St. John's University. I believe it would be more appropriate to start a fund in his name for the Study of Constitutional Law. MAX J. ROSENBERG Los Angeles

A freelance photographer who allegedly chased singer Justin Bieber on the 101 Freeway this summer and became the first person arrested and charged under the state's new anti-paparazzi law is now waging a constitutional challenge to the law. Paul Raef, 30, faces four misdemeanor charges in connection with the July 6 incident: reckless driving, failing to obey a peace officer and two counts of following another vehicle too closely and reckless driving...

Whether the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold President Obama's landmark healthcare overhaul or scrap at least the most controversial part - the requirement that most Americans have health insurance - won't be known until probably this summer, when the justices are expected to rule. But after three days of oral arguments concluded this week, four constitutional law experts weighed in on the strengths and weaknesses of the cases made by the administration's top lawyers, Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli Jr. and his deputy, Edwin Kneedler, and Paul D. Clement, solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration, who represents the 26 states challenging the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. :: Adam Winkler, UCLA constitutional law professor "To no one's surprise, Paul Clement has been extremely persuasive on the part of the challengers.