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The Constitutionality Of An Off-Dutysmoking Ban For Public Employees:Should The State Butt Out?, Elizabeth B. Thompson

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the past several years, restrictions imposed by states, cities,and municipalities on smoking in public areas have survived court challenges and become almost commonplace.' Likewise, both public and private employers have limited smoking in the workplace. A further restriction that seems to be emerging, however, is a refusal by both the state and a growing number of private employers to hire or to continue to employ smokers. These restrictions limit the employee's freedom to smoke not only in the workplace, but also after working hours and within the privacy of the worker's home.

This Note will address the constitutionality of …

The Ripple Effects Of Slaughter-House: A Critique Of A Negative Rights View Of The Constitution, Michael J. Gerhardt

Vanderbilt Law Review

Upon seeing Niagara Falls for the first time, Oscar Wilde reportedly remarked that it "would be more impressive if it flowed the other way." I have a similar reaction to a series of narrow Supreme Court interpretations of the fourteenth amendment, beginning with the Slaughter-House Cases, decided in 1872, and extending to the 1989 decisions in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services. In Slaughter-House the Court interpreted the privileges or immunities clause of the fourteenth amendment as merely protecting interests other federal laws already protected, while recently the Court interpreted the due …