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Search results for “federal power”

20 results

A guide to RFRA and why Congress made it harder to enforce some laws

RFRA was Congress's response to a Supreme Court decision that weakened free-exercise protections, and it gives people a powerful way to argue that federal law burdens their religion too much.

ARTICLE by Sandra Fischer

Habeas corpus is real, but proving you should be released is brutally hard

Habeas corpus lets a prisoner challenge unlawful custody, but modern federal habeas mostly turns on a punishing rule: it is not enough to show the state court was wrong.

ARTICLE by LaKeisha Davis

Almost everyone gets the Commerce Clause wrong - and it decides who can make the rules

The Commerce Clause is why Congress can reach far beyond shipping and trucking, but it still has real limits that matter if you are thinking about suing under federal law.

ARTICLE by Marcus Brown

How does a government tort claim work after a long-delayed injury?

A recent policy shift has made this more visible: federal agencies have tightened online claim procedures under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), so more people first learn...

Why does the other side want federal court for my discrimination case?

What your doctor says is wrong and what the insurance company does with that information are different things: one describes the harm, the other decides how hard to fight it....

Illegal search, real evidence: why police can lose a case even when they found the goods

Mapp v. Ohio made illegally seized evidence unusable in state criminal trials, forcing police to follow the Fourth Amendment instead of treating it like a suggestion.

ARTICLE by Kyle Reinhart

Dobbs changed abortion law fast, but enforcement is messier than it looks

The Supreme Court erased the nationwide abortion right in 2022, but whether state abortion bans actually get enforced often depends on who is suing, who is prosecuting, and which court steps in.

ARTICLE by Wayne Hustead

Terry v. Ohio: the street stop rule that grew far beyond one man on a Cleveland sidewalk

Terry v. Ohio created the rule that lets police briefly stop and pat down someone without a warrant, and the real fight now is over how much suspicion counts as enough.

ARTICLE by Colleen O'Brien

why can companies force arbitration instead of court?

The key thing to know is that many companies can require arbitration because federal law strongly favors enforcing arbitration clauses. Arbitration is a private dispute...

Eighth Amendment: the "evolving standards" test that changed everything

The Eighth Amendment is not a list of banned punishments so much as a moving constitutional standard, and one Supreme Court case explains why.

ARTICLE by Pete Rossignol

At-will employment: the "you can be fired anytime" rule has one giant catch

At-will employment is the default rule in almost every state, but it only really applies if you are legally an employee in the first place.

ARTICLE by James Thornton

ADA coverage looks narrow on paper, but the disability loophole mostly failed

The ADA has a definition that once let employers and businesses argue lots of people were not "really" disabled, but Congress and the courts largely shut that down.

ARTICLE by Brian Saarinen

Employee vs independent contractor: the liability dodge that usually fails

Vicarious liability means you can end up paying for someone else's misconduct, and the old "they weren't really my employee" escape hatch is a lot weaker than people think.

ARTICLE by Danny Correia

wait the IRS says fraud do they need clear and convincing evidence?

The costliest mistake is assuming the IRS can call a tax return "fraud" just because it looks bad; for the civil fraud penalty, the IRS must prove fraud by clear and convincing...

What evidence can be excluded from court, and why?

A judge can exclude important-looking evidence at the last minute, even if it seems decisive, and once that happens a claim or defense can weaken fast. That surprises many...

Your gun rights may not save you - here is what Heller actually protects

Heller recognized an individual Second Amendment right, but people get burned when they assume that means every gun restriction in a lease, eviction case, protection order, or criminal case is automatically illegal.

ARTICLE by Keisha Williams

DMCA takedown notice

Not a court order, and not proof that someone actually infringed a copyright. It is a formal request sent under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA), usually...

If my injury happened years ago, what is preponderance of the evidence?

The one thing your employer or landlord is hoping you never find out is that preponderance of the evidence is the lowest common standard of proof in civil law. It means your...

copyright registration

You just got a letter that says your photos, music, writing, or website copy were used without permission, and it asks whether the work is "registered with the U.S. Copyright...

Is it legal to make me sign a noncompete after I quit?

A major 2024 change put noncompetes in the spotlight: the FTC adopted a nationwide ban, but courts blocked that rule before it took effect for most employers. That means state...