Civil rights cases at the Supreme Court

Some things for 2305 students to chew on for this week's look at civil rights. The Supreme Court - as always - is looking at a handful of cases that force it to consider how the equal protection clause of the constitution applies to current disputes. Here's a rundown of recent cases, the links almost always will take you to SCOTUS blog. I'll post related news items separately.

United States v Windsor.

Issue: (1) Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their State; (2) whether the Executive Branch’s agreement with the court below that DOMA is unconstitutional deprives this Court of jurisdiction to decide this case; and (3) whether the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States House of Representatives has Article III standing in this case.

Hollingsworth v. Perry.

Issue: (1) Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman; and (2) whether petitioners have standing under Article III, § 2 of the Constitution in this case.

Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin.

Issue: Whether this Court’s decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, including Grutter v. Bollinger, permit the University of Texas at Austin’s use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions. (Kagan, J., recused)