Digital Commons Network^™

An Unfair Cross Section: Federal Jurisdiction For Indian Country Crimes Dismantles Jury Community Conscience, Alana Paris

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, federal jury pools must reflect a fair cross section of the community in which a crime is prosecuted and from which no distinct group in the community is excluded. The community in which a crime is prosecuted varies widely in Indian country based on legislative reforms enacted by Congress to strip indigenous populations of their inherent sovereignty. Under the Major Crimes Act, the federal government has the right to adjudicate all serious crimes committed by one American Indian against another American Indian or non-Indian within Indian country. American Indian defendants under …

Global Apathy And The Need For A New, Cooperative International Refugee Response, Emily Gleichert

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

While an increasing number of nations move toward isolationist, nationalist policies, the number of refugees worldwide is climbing to its highest levels since World War II. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the international body tasked with protecting this population. However, the office’s traditional solutions for refugees – local integration, resettlement in a third country, and voluntary repatriation – have mostly eluded refugees who spend an average of twenty years in exile. The limitations UNHCR’s structure imposes on the office, specifically in its ability to fund its operations and compel nations to act, have contributed to its …

Form And Substance In Singapore Constitutional And Administrative Law, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper proposes to study constitutional and administrative law in Singapore through the lenses of Atiyah’s and Summers’ concepts of form and substance in order to discern fruitful avenues for the development of Singapore constitutional and administrative law. While the concepts of form and substance in the context of constitutional law are often associated with constitutional interpretation, they can also be fruitfully applied to other areas of constitutional and administrative law to shed light on the potential trajectories of Singapore law. The intent of this paper is to apply Atiyah’s and Summers’ concepts of form and substance to Singapore constitutional …

Ring, Amazon Calling: The State Action Doctrine & The Fourth Amendment, Grace Egger

Washington Law Review Online

Video doorbells have proliferated across the United States and Amazon owns one of the most popular video doorbell companies on the market—Ring. While many view the Ring video doorbell as useful technology that protects the home and promotes safer neighborhoods, the product reduces consumer privacy without much recourse. For example, Ring partners with cities and law enforcement agencies across the United States thereby creating a mass surveillance network in which law enforcement agencies can watch neighborhoods and access Ring data without the user’s knowledge or consent. Because Amazon is not a state actor, it is able to circumvent the due …

The Life And Death Of Confederate Monuments, Jessica Owley, Jess Phelps

Articles

Confederate monuments have again received increased attention in the aftermath of George Floyd's tragic death in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020. Momentum and shifting public opinion are working toward the removal of these problematic monuments across the country. This Article seeks to provide insight for monument-removal advocates: specifically focusing on the legal issues associated with the "death" or removal of these monuments, how property law shapes and defines these efforts, and briefly examining what happens to these statues after removal. Our exploration of Confederate monuments reveals that some removal efforts occur outside of legally created processes. Both public and …

The Thickness Of Blood: Article I, Section 7, Law Enforcement, And Commercial Dna Databases, Hannah Parman

Washington Law Review

Law enforcement agencies increasingly use online commercial and open source DNA databases to identify suspects in cases that have long since gone cold. By uploading crime scene DNA to one of these websites, investigators can find family members who have used the website and build a family tree leading back to the owner of the original DNA. This is called “familial DNA searching.” The highest profile use of this investigative method to date occurred in California, but law enforcement in Washington State has been quick to begin utilizing the method as well. However, article I, section 7 of the Washington …

Rwu Law News: The Newsletter Of Roger Williams University School Of Law 12-2020, Barry Bridges, Michael M. Bowden, Nicole Dyszlewski, Louisa Fredey

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Reprieve Power: May The Uniform Code Of Military Justice Limit Executive Clemency?, Nino C. Monea

West Virginia Law Review

Article 57 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states the President "may commute, remit, or suspend the sentence, or any part thereof, as the President sees fit. That part of the sentence providing for death may not be suspended." This seemingly contradicts Article 2 of the United States Constitution, which states that the President "shall have the power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." This Article looks at whether the power to "reprieve" offenses includes the power to suspend sentences, including military sentences, and concludes that it does. The …

Faith And/In Medicine: Religious And Conscientious Objections To Maid, Daphne Gilbert

Dalhousie Law Journal

Across Canada, health care institutions that operate under the umbrella of religious traditions refuse to offer medical assistance in dying (MAiD) on the grounds that it violates their Charter-protected rights to freedom of religion and conscience. This article analyses the Supreme Court jurisprudence on section 2(a) and concludes that it should not extend to the protection of institutional rights. While the Court has not definitively pronounced a view on this matter, its jurisprudence suggests that any institutional right to freedom of religion would not extend to decisions on publicly-funded and legal health care. MAiD is a constitutionally-protected option for individuals …

Responsible Scholarship In A Crisis: A Plea For Fairness In Academic Discourse On Carbon Pricing References, Stepan Wood, Meinhard Doelle, Dayna N. Scott

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article offers a critical review of a paper Professor Dwight Newman recently published on the constitutionality of the federal government’s national carbon pricing legislation and the Saskatchewan and Ontario court decisions upholding the law. Rather than engage with the substance of Professor Newman’s article, the authors consider whether it respects the norms of rigorous and fair inquiry that enable constructive scholarly debate. The authors conclude that it does not, and that the consequences for the Supreme Court’s resolution of the carbon pricing reference cases could be significant.

Le présent article propose une analyse critique d’un texte publié récemment par …

Suspects, Cars & Police Dogs: A Complicated Relationship, Brian R. Gallini

Washington Law Review

Officers are searching and arresting vehicle occupants without a warrant with increasing regularity. For justification, this Article demonstrates, lower courts across the country unconstitutionally expand the scope of the Fourth Amendment’s automobile exception—often in the context of a positive dog alert. But Supreme Court jurisprudence specifically limits the scope of the automobile exception to warrantless searches of cars and their containers. In other words, the probable cause underlying the automobile exception allows police to search a vehicle and its containers—nothing more.

Despite that clear guidance, this Article argues that a growing number of lower courts nationwide unconstitutionally rely on the …

First Amendment: Executive Order By The Governor Limiting Large Gatherings Statewide, Alex N. Estroff, Boris W. Gautier

Georgia State University Law Review

Beginning in March 2020, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) issued a series of Executive Orders addressing the State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Included in these Orders was a prohibition on large groups of people gathering in a single location. Though an effective means of curtailing the virus’s rapid transmission, this specific provision became a source of controversy for groups who believed such a prohibition infringed upon their First Amendment rights.

The Little Statute That Gets No Respect: How Courts Have Ignored The Administrative Procedure Act With Respect To Whether Pre-Enforcement Challenge Provisions Are Exclusive, Arthur Sapper

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

A Constitutional Right To A Functioning United States Government? Are Government Shutdowns Unconstitutional?, Allen Shoenberger

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Re-Victimization Of Domestic Violence Victims, Angela De La Garza

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Law School News: 'Law Isn't A Foreign Language Anymore' 11/24/2020, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Animus And Its Discontents, William D. Araiza

Florida Law Review

The concept of “animus” has taken center stage in high-stakes constitutional rights adjudication. Both in major equal protection cases and, more recently, in litigation over President Trump’s immigration bans and religion-based denials of commercial services to lesbians and gays, animus has emerged as a favored doctrinal tool of courts committed to protecting individual rights against majoritarian oppression. Despite—or perhaps because of—its prominence, the animus concept has remained controversial. Scholars have remarked on the difficulty of uncovering animus, its tendency to inflame the culture wars, and its potential to distract attention from other doctrinal paths that might be viewed as more …

A Statutory National Security President, Amy L. Stein

Florida Law Review

Not all presidential power to address national security threats stems from the Constitution. Some presidential national security powers stem from statute, creating complicated questions about the limits of these powers delegated to the President by Congress. Scholars who have explored ways to achieve the proper balance between responsiveness and accountability have generally focused on the proper degree of deference that courts should provide to the President interpreting statutory provisions, with little confidence in the utility and efficacy of statutory constraints.

This Article counters this narrative by arguing that a key to achieving this balance may lie in such constraints. Instead …

Can The State Proclaim Life After Death? Hellerstedt And Regulating The Disposition Of Fetal Remains, Thomas J. Molony

Florida Law Review

The United States Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to abortion opponents in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, but the 2016 ruling did not dampen their resolve. Just days after Texas lost the Hellerstedt battle, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) returned to the fight and proposed regulations requiring health care facilities to inter or cremate the remains of aborted and miscarried fetuses. Undeterred by a preliminary injunction entered against those regulations once they became final, the Texas legislature enacted a law with similar effect in June 2017.

The Texas law, however, proved to be good ground for …

This Year’S Divided Electorate Is A Reminder Of Why We Need Workable, Governing Majorities, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

November 18, 2020: We Need A National Party, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “We Need a National Party“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Is The Federal Reserve Constitutional? An Originalist Argument For Independent Agencies, Christine Kexel Chabot

Notre Dame Law Review

Originalists have written off the Federal Reserve’s independent monetary policy decisions as an unconstitutional novelty. This Article demonstrates that the independent structure of the Federal Reserve dates back to a Founding-era agency known as the Sinking Fund Commission. Like the Federal Reserve, the Commission conducted open market purchases of U.S. securities with substantial independence from the President. The Commission’s independent structure was proposed by Alexander Hamilton, passed by the First Congress, and signed into law by President George Washington. Their decisions to create an independent Commission with multiple members to check the President and one another—and to include the Vice …

Distinguishing Permissible Preemption From Unconstitutional Commandeering, Edward A. Hartnett

Notre Dame Law Review

For years, the preemption doctrine and the anticommandeering doctrine lived in an uneasy tension, with each threatening to consume the other. On the one hand, preemption permits Congress to insist that state law give way to congressional demands. On the other hand, the anticommandeering doctrine prohibits Congress from commandeering state legislatures or state executives. Without some way to establish a boundary between the two, preemption could swallow the anticommandeering doctrine by allowing Congress to control state law. Alternatively, absent some boundary, anticommandeering could swallow preemption by empowering states to refuse to be governed by the commands of federal law. Either …

The American Law Of Overruling Necessity: The Exceptional Origins Of State Police Power, William J. Novak

Book Chapters

One of the most significant legal-constitutional moments in the history of the American republic occurred in the Confederation Congress on September 26 and 27, 1787. On those dates, the handiwork of the historic Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia was now "laid before the United States in Congress assembled." And the momentous question for the extant official lawmaking body of the US government was what to do next. Under Article 1 3 of the Articles of Confederation, any alteration of the articles had to be agreed to by Congress and confirmed by the legislatures of every state. Notably, the Philadelphia convention had …

The Historical Origins Of Judicial Religious Exemptions, Stephanie H. Barclay

Notre Dame Law Review

The Supreme Court has recently expressed a renewed interest in the question of when the Free Exercise Clause requires exemptions from generally applicable laws. While scholars have vigorously debated what the historical evidence has to say about this question, the conventional wisdom holds that judicially created exemptions would have been a new or extraordinary means of protecting religious exercise—a sea change in the American approach to judicial review when compared to the English common law.

This Article, however, questions that assumption and looks at this question from a broader perspective. When one views judicial decisions through the lens of equitable …

Reflections On The Church/State Puzzle, Kermit V. Lipez

Maine Law Review

No abstract provided.

November 10, 2020: How I Reacted Last Time To Demands For Recounts, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “How I Reacted Last Time to Demands for Recounts“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Postponing Federal Elections Due To Election Emergencies, Michael T. Morley

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Federal Election Day didn’t just happen. Rather, it reflects the culmination of a series of federal laws enacted over the course of nearly seventy years. Each of those laws requires states to hold a different type of federal election on the same day. These statutes also grant states flexibility to hold federal elections at a later date if there is a “failure to elect” on Election Day. Based on a detailed examination of these provisions’ texts, legislative histories, and histories of judicial application, this Article explains that federal Election Day laws empower states to postpone or extend federal elections when …

November 8, 2020: Joe Biden Wins, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Joe Biden Wins“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Alito, Conservative Justices Are Fighting Old Ghosts In Pa. Count All The Ballots, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.