WASHINGTON – On news this morning of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Allen v. Cooper, Constitutional Accountability Center Appellate Counsel Dayna Zolle and Civil Rights Director David Gans issued the following reaction: 

“We are disappointed in today’s ruling,” Zolle said. “Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, by design, grants Congress broad authority to enact ‘appropriate legislation’ to enforce that Amendment’s guarantees, and Section 5’s text and history confirm the substantial breadth of Congress’s enforcement authority. The Copyright Remedy Clarification Act is, in fact, a ‘congruent and proportional’ response to a history of unconstitutional conduct by states that Congress sought to remedy and deter.”  

“As Justice Stephen Breyer’s separate opinion noted,” Gans continued, “the Court’s cases have gotten the Constitution wrong and incorrectly denied Congress the authority to protect individuals from state infringement of constitutional rights. While Justice Breyer and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg concurred in the ruling, they noted their continuing dissent from the Court’s repeated closing of the courthouse doors on individuals injured by state governmental action.”  

# 

Resources:

CAC case page in Allen v. Cooper: https://www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/allen-v-cooper/

##

Constitutional Accountability Center is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history. Visit CAC’s website at www.theusconstitution.org.

###