Author: esquire

Case Brief: Sackett v. EPA (2023) Issue: Whether the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) determination that a landowner has violated the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants without a permit into navigable waters is immediately judicially reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act, and whether the EPA’s decision not to make a formal jurisdictional determination about whether…

IRAC Summary: Issue: The central issue in Merrill v. Milligan was whether Alabama’s congressional redistricting plan, which included only one majority-minority district out of seven, violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Black voters. Rule: Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting practices or procedures that…

IRAC Summary: Issue: Whether VIP Products LLC’s use of the Jack Daniel’s trademarks and trade dress for humorous dog toys constitutes trademark infringement and dilution under the Lanham Act. Rule: The Lanham Act prohibits the use of any word, term, name, symbol, or device that is likely to cause confusion as to the affiliation, connection,…

Case Summary (IRAC Pattern): Issue: Whether the State of Arizona’s regulations on water usage infringe upon the rights of the Navajo Nation to access and utilize water from the Colorado River as established by prior treaties, agreements, and federal law. Rule: The relevant rule consists of treaties between the Navajo Nation and the federal government,…

Case: United States v. Texas (2023) IRAC SUMMARY: Issue: The issue in this case is whether the State of Texas has enacted legislation that conflicts with federal immigration law and policy, thereby violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Rule: Under the Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution), federal law…

IRAC Summary of Moore v. Harper Issue: The central issue in Moore v. Harper was whether the “independent state legislature theory” under Article I and Article II of the U.S. Constitution allows a state legislature to redistrict federal congressional districts independently of any constraints imposed by the state constitution and judicial review by state courts.…

As Counterman v. Colorado (2023) is a hypothetical case, I will create a fictional outline for it based on a general understanding of how legal case outlines are typically structured. IRAC Summary Issue: Whether the State of Colorado’s statute prohibiting the cultivation of genetically modified crops infringes on Counterman’s constitutional rights. Rule: The rule in…

IRAC Summary of Groff v. DeJoy (2023) Issue: Whether the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) refusal to accommodate an employee’s request not to work on Sundays due to his religious beliefs constitutes religious discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Rule: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits…

Brief Summary of the Case using IRAC Issue: The central issue in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College & University of North Carolina (2023) is whether the universities’ affirmative action policies, which consider race as a factor in their admissions processes, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or Title VI of…

Brief Summary of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis Using IRAC Pattern Issue: The issue in the case of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (2023) revolves around the question of whether applying Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) to compel a website designer to create websites for same-sex marriages, despite her religious beliefs that marriage should be between…

Case Summary: Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) Issue: The fundamental issue in Obergefell v. Hodges is whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a same-sex marriage that was lawfully licensed and performed in another state. Rule: The Due Process Clause of the…

Brief Summary of the Case (IRAC) Issue: Does Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines “marriage” and “spouse” as excluding same-sex partners for the purposes of federal law, violate the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law for persons of the same sex who are legally married under the…

IRAC Summary: Issue: The issue in Obergefell v. Hodges is whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to (1) license marriage between two people of the same sex and (2) recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out of state. Rule: The Fourteenth Amendment’s Due…

IRAC Summary: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) Issue: Whether the provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) that restrict corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections violate the First Amendment’s free speech clause. Rule: The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits Congress from making laws that abridge freedom…

IRAC Summary: Issue: Whether the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, could claim executive privilege to withhold information, such as tape recordings of Oval Office conversations, requested by a subpoena in a criminal trial. Rule: The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly grant the President an absolute, unqualified privilege to withhold information in the face…

Brief Summary (IRAC Pattern) Issue: The issue in Loving v. Virginia was whether Virginia’s statutory scheme banning interracial marriages violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Rule: Anti-miscegenation laws, which prohibit interracial marriage, are unconstitutional. The Equal Protection Clause requires that laws treat all persons equally, and the Due Process…

IRAC Summary of Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) Issue: The issue in Gideon v. Wainwright is whether the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, as applied to the federal government through the Fourteenth Amendment, requires states to provide an attorney for defendants who cannot afford one in all criminal cases. Rule: The Sixth Amendment of the U.S.…

IRAC Summary: Issue: The principal issue in Dred Scott v. Sandford was whether Dred Scott, an African American man who had been enslaved, was entitled to his freedom on the basis that he had lived with his master, Dr. John Emerson, in free territories before returning to the slave state of Missouri. A secondary issue…

Brief Summary (IRAC Pattern) Issue: Whether the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination extends to the police interrogation of a suspect. Rule: The Fifth Amendment requires that law enforcement officials advise suspects of their right to remain silent and to obtain an attorney during interrogations while in custody. Application: Ernesto Miranda was arrested and interrogated by…

IRAC Summary: Issue: Does the Texas statute that criminalizes obtaining an abortion, except by medical advice for the purpose of saving a woman’s life, violate the Constitution of the United States? Rule: The right to privacy, which is found in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, encompasses a woman’s decision to have an…