Civil Rights › Military Law › Constitutional Law

Was this week the beginning of the end for DOMA?

Hi there, This week had two days of arguments on gay marriage at the Supreme Court. The first case dealt with a challenge to the California law known as Prop. 8, which overturned the California Supreme Court’s...more

Blunders of the Supreme Court of the United States, Part 8

The eighth in a series on blunders made by the Supreme Court of the United States. In this article the case of Cramer v. United States (325 U.S. 1, 1945) is reviewed. The blunder made is that the United States Supreme...more

Purcell v. United States

Petition for Certiorari

On Monday, January 23, 2012 I am filing a petition for certiorari seeking to refine or overturn the Feres doctrine. Over the last 60 years the Feres doctrine – a judicial interpretation of the Federal Tort Claims Act - has...more

FICHERA & MILLER TAKES CASE TO U.S. SUPREME COURT FIGHTING FOR THE LEGAL RIGHTS OF MILITARY SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN

January 23, 2012, Chicago, IL: Chicago personal injury attorneys, Fichera & Miller, call upon the United States Supreme Court to overturn the 60- year-old Feres Doctrine and preserve the rights of servicemembers and...more

Same-Sex Military Couples Say Denial of Benefits Threatens National Security

Just a little more than a month after the repeal of the military's controversial Don't Ask Don't Tell policy went into effect, a group of married same-sex couples are joining together to file suit against the government to...more

Log Cabin Republicans v. U.S.: The End of DADT Begins in Riverside

Interviews with Prof. David Cruz (USC Law) and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky (UCI Law) discussing the case that led to the repeal of DADT....more

U.S. Supreme Court Avoids Creating Right to Informational Privacy

In a widely-watched case that pitted privacy rights against national security issues, the United States Supreme Court has issued a narrow ruling allowing the federal government to ask employees about drug counseling, medical...more

Senate/Congress Judiciary Committee of USA Senate/ Congress Intelligence Committee of USA

Legal Claims in ACLU, CCR, CAIR, ALG, Plaintiffs… v. National Security Agency (NSA)

Subject: CASE SUMMARY: Mental torture, threats, intimidation, sabotage by USA's - NSA of an individual and family wrongfully approached outside of law for forced settlement of criminal charges filed in court....more

"Enhanced Interrogation Methods": How legal memoranda manipulated Federal and International laws prohibiting torture and coercion.

In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, executive branch lawyers acting as legal council for the President issued several memoranda which interpreted various laws prohibiting torture or "cruel, inhuman, and degrading...more

Rights of the Accused and the President's Military Tribunal System

In response to the September 11th attacks, President George W. Bush created an unprecedented Military Tribunals procedure outside of all known systems of justice which justifies the indefinite detention of alleged terrorists...more

Government of Canada Position Paper on the Use of Riot Control Agents

This paper presents the Government of Canada’s position on the use of riot control agents (RCAs). It is intended to elicit feedback from stakeholder groups and to form the basis of a national policy for the use of RCAs...more

Book Review, Constitution in Wartime: Beyond Alarmism and Complacency, Constellations 2006

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 prompted swift responses from the political branches of American government to the perceived existential crisis, and at the same time reinvigorated a longstanding debate among...more