June 4, 2025
Navigating Constitutional Waters: The Legality of School Choice Programs in Missouri and Beyond
School choice voucher programs, which enable public education funds to be used for private school tuition, have evolved from controversial educational experiments of the 1990s into a central battleground for religious liberty. These controversial programs, once challenged primarily on Establishment Clause grounds, now face a transformed legal landscape where religious exclusion, rather than inclusion, raises constitutional concerns. In Missouri, Senate Bill 727, enacted during the 2024 legislative session, illustrates this transformation by creating an innovative tax credit scholarship program that includes religious schools despite the state’s restrictive constitutional provisions.
June 4, 2025
Noho Ki‘eki‘e ke Aloha (Aloha Reigns): An Example of Values-Based Constitutional Jurisprudence
While Hawai‘i’s government structure has gone through several major upheavals since the time of King Kamehameha I, the Law of the Splintered Paddle has remained as a guiding principle towards a right to a safe environment in what is now the state of Hawai‘i. This principle came into question recently in the 2024 Hawai‘i Supreme Court case, State v. Wilson. The Supreme Court of Hawai‘i addressed a fundamental question: to what extent can a state with a distinct legal and cultural tradition regulate firearm possession without infringing on federal constitutional rights?