Richard L. Pacelle Jr. received his Ph.D. in political science from Ohio State University. He is a professor of American and judicial politics at The University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He previously taught at Indiana University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and was department chair at Georgia Southern University. His teaching and research interests are in the field of American politics with a focus on public law and the Supreme Court. Pacelle’s writings include “Decision Making by the Modern Supreme Court” (2011), “The Supreme Court in a Separation of Powers System” (2015), “Issue Emergence and Evolution in the U.S. Supreme Court” (2020) and “Husted v. A. Phillip Randolph Institute on Voting Rights” Chapter 4 in “SCOTUS 2018: Major Decisions and Developments in the Supreme Court.”
More Articles from this Author
Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
In Barron v. Baltimore (1833), the Court said framers of the Constitution did not intend the Bill of Rights to extend to the states, thus limiting it to the national government.
Hugo Black
Supreme Court Justice Hugo Lafayette Black is considered to be one of the most influential justices of his time. On First Amendment issues, Black was considered an absolutist.
Lemon Test
The Supreme Court often uses the three-pronged Lemon test when it evaluates whether a law or governmental activity violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Preferred Position Doctrine
The preferred position doctrine creates a hierarchy of rights so that some freedoms, such as those related to the First Amendment, receive greater protection than others.
Roth v. United States (1957)
Roth v. United States (1957) resulted in a new test to determine what could be prosecuted under obscenity laws and what was protected under the First Amendment.