Jason Mazzone | DEV-College of Law | Illinois

Amar and Mazzone revisit core principles of Federalism

Chris Davies — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:46:57 +0000

In response to protests in Los Angeles and the subsequent responses by local and federal officials, Professors Vikram Amar and Jason Mazzone put their constitutional law expertise to work to take another look at the principles of federalism and why they matter. “To conclude states must agree with the President before any kind of federalized military forces could be used would be to place the safety of federal personnel and federal property at the mercy of state government. As American history suggests, that could be a very dangerous scenario,” they write.

Read the full article on Justia Verdict.

News-Gazette quotes Aronson and Mazzone on student visa restrictions

Chris Davies — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 15:49:41 +0000

The Trump administrations stated plans to “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students” would have an immense impact on the University of Illinois, as the school hosted more than 6,000 individuals from China last year. In a wide-ranging examination of faculty opinions on how damaging this policy may be, the News-Gazette spoke to law professors Lauren Aronson and Jason Mazzone. “I take all threats from this administration seriously,” Aronson, director of the Immigration Law Clinic, said.

Read the full article on the News-Gazette’s website.

Amar and Mazzone pen series on recent Fifth Circuit case

Chris Davies — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:27:44 +0000

The case of Umphress v. Hall is ripe with teachable moments, and Professors Vikram Amar and Jason Mazzone gladly took the bait in a recent two-part series of articles published at Justia Verdict. The case involves a judge in Texas who is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the Fifth Circuit because he refuses to perform same-sex weddings because of his religious convictions. In the first part of the series, Amar and Mazzone examine the “justiciability” of the case; that is, whether a federal court can or should entertain a particular dispute. In part two, the authors examine how the case may be determined and the central question of whether judges may discriminate in officiating a marriage.

Read part 1 and part 2 on Justia Verdict.

Mazzone and Amar publish article on executive orders targeting law firms

Chris Davies — Fri, 02 May 2025 20:06:26 +0000

Executive orders from the White House targeting law firms have disrupted Big Law firms; however, many firms have negotiated deals with the administration so as to be removed from its blacklist. Professors Jason Mazzone and Vikram Amar write at Justia Verdict that there is not “much doubt that the executive orders are blatant violations of the First and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution,” and that “the law firms collectively would be better off…if none of them settled and the administration’s executive orders were forcefully and repeatedly rebuffed by courts all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Mazzone joins CBS to discuss deportations

Chris Davies — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:46:07 +0000

The Trump administration’s moves to arrest Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil and decision not comply with a federal judge’s orders to halt deportation flights raise questions about the rights enumerated in the Constitution as well as its constraints. Professor Jason Mazzone made an appearance on CBS Chicago to share his expertise on how constitutional law can be applied to these situations.

Watch his appearance on the CBS Chicago website.

Amar and Mazzone defend birthright citizenship clause

Chris Davies — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:37:58 +0000

Writing at Justia Verdict, Professors Vikram Amar and Jason Mazzone describe the Fourteenth Amendment as perhaps the most important piece of law enacted anywhere in the world over the last two centuries. In their defense of the birthright citizenship clause, the authors suggest that criticisms of the clause in support of President Trump’s executive order seeking to end the practice are doing “absolute violence to the words of the Clause.”

Read the full article at Justia Verdict.

Symposium papers from “The Future of History and Tradition” available

Chris Davies — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:12 +0000

In early 2024, the Program in Constitutional Theory, History and Law co-sponsored with the Harvard Law School and the University of Richmond School of Law a symposium on “The Future of History and Tradition.” The symposium, held at Harvard, brought together leading scholars to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent renewed interest in history and tradition as a tool for interpreting and applying the Constitution and the attendant puzzles and challenges that lie ahead. Essays from the symposium have now been published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy .

View the full issue of symposium papers online.

Mazzone speaks with Wall Street Journal about state “divorce”

Chris Davies — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:30:21 +0000

“New Illinois” comprising all counties but Cook may have passed nonbinding votes in 33 of Illinois’s counties, but it is still far from becoming reality according to Professor Jason Mazzone. In an article examining the phenomenon of red counties seeking to divorce from their blue states, the Wall Street Journal shares data and anecdotes driving the movement and quotes Mazzone. ““It seems far-fetched. But we live in uncertain times. So if you’ve got the right people in Congress—and I don’t think we do have the right people in Congress—you could do it,” he said.

Read the full article.

Amar and Mazzone publish article on rule of law in Pennsylvania

Chris Davies — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:22:29 +0000

Are state executive officials in Pennsylvania are allowed, under the state constitution, to decline to enforce a statutory provision if the executive officials conclude that the provision violates the state’s highest law, the state constitution? That’s the primary concern of a new article by Professors Vikram Amar and Jason Mazzone. Writing at Justia Verdict, the pair investigate how the rule of law and precedent should apply to this case and how local officials and justices have failed in equal measure.

Read the full editorial online.

Mazzone pens op-ed on presidential election effects on SCOTUS

Chris Davies — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:03:37 +0000

“In any presidential election, the Supreme Court is on the ballot,” Professor Jason Mazzone writes in the News-Gazette. He details some of the ways in which the election of Donald Trump to a second term might affect the makeup of the Supreme Court. “The first Trump presidency generated a long list of novel legal issues, many of which reached the Supreme Court. Trump’s current bold agenda and the opposition it will produce will mean many more lawsuits in the next four years,” he concludes.

Read his full editorial online.