At New Reform Club, Seth Barrett Tillman: A Year’s Changes to the Intellectual Landscape Governing Federal Litigation. A series of commentary leading up to the Supreme Court's decision in DeVillier v. Texas, 601 U.S. 285, 291 (Apr. 16, 2024) (Thomas, J., for a unanimous Court), in which the Court stated:
Constitutional rights do not typically come with a built in cause of action to allow for private enforcement in courts. See Egbert v. Boule, 596 U. S. 482, 490–491 (2022). Instead, constitutional rights are generally invoked defensively in cases arising under other sources of law, or asserted offensively pursuant to an independent cause of action designed for that purpose, see, e.g., 42 U. S. C. §1983.
Professor Tillman comments:
All this happened in a span of about seven months. I find it striking that the DeVillier Court put forward its position absent any prior Supreme Court authority, other judicial authority, or, even, any scholarly authority. Is it possible that the unanimous Court believed its position entirely obvious?
Posted at 12:25 AM