Supreme Court

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision upholding patents on human genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. The Court will soon decide the case involving Myriad Genetics, Inc., which owns...

It was the summer of 1971 when the first mandated round of redistricting was taking place across the nation. A series of Supreme Court decisions in the '60s had directed states to create new legislative districts every ten years to reflect...

Shobita Parthasarathy's book on the development and implications of gene testing and patenting has been re-released in paperback by The MIT Press.The book, Building Genetic Medicine: Breast Cancer, Technology and the Comparative Politics of Health...

Shobita Parthasarathy was interviewed by German Public Radio about recent debates on the legality of patenting human genes. Since a narrowly decided Supreme Court ruling in the 1980s, the U.S. Patent Office has allowed patents for a variety of life...

Robert Axelrod and Scott Atran wrote an op-ed for the New York Times defending their right, as social scientists, to talk to U.S. classified terrorist organizations without threatening national security. The op-ed was written in response to a recent...

Law and legal institutions have a growing impact on our society. Courts play an important role in shaping dozens of national and local policy issues.

PUBPOL 495 (Policy Seminar) is for students currently enrolled in the Public Policy Undergraduate Program only, no exceptions. Enrollment is by permission only.

PubPol 495 is open to students in the Public Policy BA program, by permission only.

How do the judges on the Supreme Court make their decisions? What were the real issues in cases such as Roe v. Wade, and is it possible that the Court would overturn this decision? How do judges in different eras decided cases differently?