The Contracts Clause The Contracts Clause, U.S. Const. Art I, § 10, provides: “No State shall … pass any … Law Impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” The Supreme Court has developed a three-part Contracts Clause test: (1) does the state law
Nahmod Law
Nahmod Law, published by Chicago-Kent College of Law, focuses on civil rights and civil liberties litigation, particularly the law surrounding Section 1983 claims. The blog covers topics such as First Amendment issues including the Free Exercise Clause, separation of church and state, and damages actions under Section 1983. It also addresses recent Supreme Court decisions and legal developments related to prison litigation reform, Medicaid Act implications, and other constitutional law matters. The content reflects scholarly analysis and updates on litigation strategies and statutory interpretation in the context of civil rights enforcement.
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Bill of Attainder Violations and Section 1983
By its terms, section 1983 creates damages and prospective relief remedies for deprivations by state and local government officials, and by local governments themselves, of rights, privileges and immunities secured by the Constitution and laws. But what constitutional violations are…
Three Scholars Discuss Government Funding and Church-State Separation after Carson (Video)
The Decalogue Society of Chicago invited Professors Nicole Garnett of Notre Dame Law School, Michael Helfand of Pepperdine Law School and me to speak about government funding and church-state separation in light of the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in…
Off-Duty Police and State Action/Color of Law
Police officers when on the job and exercising government power are state actors subject to the Fourteenth Amendment and incorporated constitutional provisions, including the Fourth Amendment. (I discuss extensively the various state action tests and Supreme Court and circuit decisions…
Additions to List of 2021 Term Section 1983-Related Supreme Court Decisions
After I posted earlier, I realized that I had inadvertently omitted two per curiam excessive force decisions from the 2021 Term in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of granting qualified immunity to law enforcement officers. So below is…
A Short List of 2021 Term Section 1983-Related Supreme Court Decisions
Some of you may be interested in a short list of recent Supreme Court section 1983-related decisions. Here are decisions from the Court’s 2021 Term, together with the current two cert-granted cases for the 2022 Term. I hope you find…
Miranda Violations and Section 1983: The Disingenuous Decision in Vega v. Tekoh
In Chavez v. Martinez, 538 U.S. 760 (2003), a majority of the Supreme Court effectively held that coerced confessions that violate the Fifth Amendment are actionable under section 1983 so long as the confessions are used at criminal trials. See…
The Religion Clauses, RFRA & RLUIPA: My New Video
At Chicago-Kent’s 38th Annual Conference on Section 1983, which took place as a streaming webinar on April 20-21, 2022, I presented an update on the Establishment Clause, the Free Exercise Clause, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Religious…
The Supreme Court Maintains Its Aggressive Qualified Immunity Campaign
The Court continues to summarily reverse circuit court denials of qualified immunity to law enforcement officers, as borne out by two per curiam decisions in its 2021-22 Term, one out of the Ninth Circuit and one out of the Tenth…
Section 1983 in State Courts: Justiciability
To what extent do the Article III justiciability standards that govern federal court litigation, including the standing requirements of injury in fact, causation and redressability, apply to §1983 actions filed in state court? There is nothing that prevents a state’s…