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Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia
Nonviolence
Sherry F. Colb

Why Pro-Life and Pro-Animal Violence Are Immoral

Sherry Colb, a law professor at Cornell Law School, discusses the moral status of perpetrating violence to express opposition to abortion and to animal killing and cruelty. Colb argues there are nonviolent means of furthering pro-life and pro-animal rights movements, violence for these purposes is an unnecessary and thus immoral option. Continue reading →

Posted In: Philosophy and Ethics, Reproductive Law

Analysis and Commentary by Sherry F. Colb

Sexism

Donald Trump’s Woman Problem

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb discusses the sexism Donald Trump displayed during the night of the second Republican presidential debate. Colb points out that Trump’s words reveal his hateful and exploitative attitude toward women and is hopeful that people are prepared to vote accordingly. Continue reading →

Posted In: Politics

Positive Pregnancy Test

Ohio Considers Banning Abortions Motivated by Down Syndrome

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb discusses an Ohio bill currently under consideration that would ban abortions motivated by the presentation of Down syndrome by an embryo or fetus. Colb argues that a woman’s right to make decisions over her bodily integrity includes the right to make a decision on a basis that some or most people might find offensive. Continue reading →

Posted In: Reproductive Law

Phone Security Concept

The Sixth Circuit Says No to “Butt Dial” Privacy

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb analyzes a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit holding that when a person with a cellphone inadvertently calls a third party, thereby exposing personal communications, the caller retains no reasonable expectation of privacy in the matters disclosed for purposes of the federal Wiretap Act. Continue reading →

Posted In: Constitutional Law, Privacy

Baby Chicks

What Reactions to the Undercover Planned Parenthood Video Tell Us About Our Values

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb draws upon the outrage many people felt in response to a video allegedly showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal body parts and tissue from abortions (video that was subsequently revealed to be edited so as to be intentionally misleading) in order to discuss a different area in which tissue and parts are bought and sold without evoking such broad outrage. Continue reading →

Posted In: Philosophy and Ethics, Reproductive Law

Jury Box

Delayed Trials for Fairer Outcomes?

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb discusses a proposal by Adam Benforado, author of Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Justice, that one way to improve the criminal justice system would be to conduct and record trials outside of the jury’s presence, then to show edited versions of the recordings to juries after all of the evidence has been presented. Colb explains how this proposal could potentially improve the system and addresses some potential obstacles to its implementation. Continue reading →

Posted In: Courts and Procedure, Criminal Procedure

Hotel Reception and Keys

What City of Los Angeles v. Patel Might Tell Us About Abortion

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in City of Los Angeles v. Patel, in which the Court held facially unconstitutional a statute requiring hotel operators to record, keep, and disclose upon demand by law enforcement certain information about their guests. Colb argues that the Court’s reliance on Planned Parenthood v. Casey to find the statute unconstitutional reinforces the link between substantive and procedural privacy. Continue reading →

Posted In: Constitutional Law

Police Stop

The Shrinking Fourth Amendment: Heien v. North Carolina

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb discusses the potential downsides of the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding earlier this year in Heien v. North Carolina, in which the Court held that a police officer could, consistent with the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures, stop a driver for a behavior that the officer mistakenly but reasonably believes is illegal. Continue reading →

Posted In: Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure

Empathy Concept

Competing Values in the Conviction of a Woman for Feticide

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb discusses a recent criminal case out of Indiana, in which a woman was convicted and sentenced for feticide. Colb argues that while the situation as a whole is a tragedy, it also highlights a failure of the State of Indiana to have empathy for women in pain whose circumstances call for mercy rather than a pure retributive impulse. Continue reading →

Posted In: Criminal Law, Reproductive Law

Drug Dogs

How Breast Exams Are Like Dog Sniffs

Cornell University law professor Sherry Colb compares medical screening tests with dog sniffs for narcotics with respect to their propensity to yield Type I errors—also known as false positives. In particular, Colb references Justice Souter’s dissenting opinion in Illinois v. Caballes, in which he opined that the possibility that dogs would incorrectly indicate the presence of narcotics and lead to an invasive search meant that such dog sniffs constitute searches for Fourth Amendment purposes. Continue reading →

Posted In: Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure

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