Skip to content

Jenny Rough

  • Home
  • Writing
    • Articles
    • Books
  • Podcasts
  • Rough Draft
  • Retreat
  • About
  • Contact

constitutional law

Fighting for Sabbath rest

May 4, 2025February 8, 2025

A special legal episode about a mailman, his faith, and the byzantine legal rules of religious liberty in the U.S.

Listen

Categories Doubletake Tags constitutional law, Genesis 1, Gerald Groff, Groff v DeJoy, rest, sabbath, Shabbat, Sunday sabbath, Supreme Court

Mayhem at the Marathon

May 4, 2025October 12, 2022

The Supreme Court addresses jury selection and mitigating evidence in the Boston Marathon bombers case.

Listen

Categories Legal Docket Tags bombing, Boston Marathon, capital punishment, constitutional law, jury bias, jury duty, mitigating evidence, running, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Tsarnaev

Level Praying Field

August 7, 2023August 30, 2022

The Supreme Court tackles the First Amendment in this case about a praying football coach.

Listen

Categories Legal Docket Tags constitutional law, establishment clause, First Amendment, football, free speech, Kennedy v Bremerton, Moses Hogan singers, religion clause, school prayer, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

U.S. v. Arthrex

August 7, 2023October 21, 2021

The Supreme Court decides a case about the AIA’s P-TAB of APJs hearing IPRs within the USPTO (don’t worry, we explain all that!)

Listen

Categories Legal Docket Tags American Invents Act, Arthrex, Article III, Bunch O Balloons, constitutional law, Josh Malone, patent law, PTAB, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, USPTO

Jones v. Mississippi

August 7, 2023August 17, 2021

The Supreme Court addresses the 8th Amendment in this case about a 15-year-old who got a life sentence after killing his grandfather.

Listen

Categories Legal Docket Tags constitutional law, JLWOP, Jones v Mississippi, juvenile justice, life without parole, Mississippi prison, murder, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

Mandatory Vaccine Laws

August 7, 2023February 28, 2021

A review of a 1905 Supreme Court case that decided the constitutionality of vaccine mandates and cases that have expanded on it. 

Listen

Categories Legal Docket Tags constitutional law, COVID-19, due process clause, Jacobson v Massachusetts, SCOTUS, smallpox, Supreme Court, vaccine injury, vaccine laws, vaccine mandate

Admitting Privileges 

August 7, 2023September 22, 2020

The Supreme Court issues a surprising plurality decision in a case that challenges a state law that requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

Listen

Categories Legal Docket Tags abortion law, constitutional law, incrementalism, June Medical Services v Russo, maternal health laws, persuasion laws, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, undue burden

Bivens Remedy

August 7, 2023September 8, 2020

The Supreme Court addresses whether a Bivens remedy is available in a case where a border patrol agent killed a Mexican teenager in a cross-border shooting.

Listen

Categories Legal Docket Tags 5th Amendment, Bivens remedy, constitutional law, due process, Hernandez v Mesa, Paso Del Norte Bridge, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, U.S. Border Patrol agents

The Insanity Defense

August 7, 2023August 25, 2020

The Supreme Court considers the limits of a complex and controversial defense to crimes: insanity.

Listen

Categories Legal Docket Tags 14th Amendment, 8th Amendment, constitutional law, criminal law, insanity defense, Kahler v Kansas, mens rea, mental illness, SCOTUS, Supreme Court

Recent Posts

  • More than a roof
  • The end of affirmative action
  • Evidence Unseen
  • Sketching stories, sharing faith
  • Escape from Vietnam
  • Finding a place for nuclear waste
  • Fighting for Sabbath rest
  • Navigating the wilderness of grief
  • On the trail with Lewis & Clark
  • Remembering 9/11

Topics

affirmative action Albania Appalachian Trail artist Bill Haley Bill Hennessy bombing Boston Marathon Bunch O Balloons capital punishment communism constitutional law contracts courtroom art establishment clause First Amendment football free speech grief hike international human rights lawyer jury bias jury duty Kennedy v Bremerton long trails mediation mitigating evidence Morgan v Sundance Moses Hogan singers patent law prayer religion clause Romania running Saving My Assassin school prayer SCOTUS socialism Solomonic decision Strawbridge family Supreme Court Taco Bell Tsarnaev Virginia Prodan walking
© 2026 Jenny Rough · Site design by Will Amato