Digital Commons Network^™

A Reason To Discriminate: Curtailing The Use Of Title Vii Analysis In Claims Arising Under The Adea, Katherine Krupa Green

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

"The House Was Quiet And The World Was Calm The Reader Became The Book", Burt Neuborne

Vanderbilt Law Review

Professor Neuborne argues that we err in reading the Bill of Rights "in splendid isolation" as a randomly ordered set of clause-bound norms. Instead, he argues that the disciplined order and placement of the thirty-three ideas in the Bill of Rights, especially the six textual ideas united in the First Amendment, reveals a deep contextual structure imposed by the Founders that sheds important light on the meaning of the constitutional text. He argues that the "vertical" order of the first ten amendments, as well as the "horizontal" order of ideas within each amendment, provides important clues to a judge seeking …

Defending Deference: A Response To Professors Epstein And Wells, Robert J. Pushaw Jr.

Missouri Law Review

This Note primarily seeks to challenge Professor Wells’s ideas contributed to the symposium. Specifically, the Constitution creates political and institutional structures that lead to strong executive-branch initiative in military affairs and fairly circumscribed judicial review. Constitutional considerations, as well as precedent, cast doubt on the viability of Wells’s “hard look” proposal and suggest that the Court will—should—continue its pattern of reviewing with deference wartime claims that the President has violated individual rights.

Private Parties As Defendants In Civil Rights Litigation: Introduction, Myriam Gilles

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Encouraging Courage: Law's Response To Fear And Risk, William B. Fisch

Missouri Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cross Burning, Hate Speech, And Free Speech In America, Edward J. Eberle

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Questioning Deference, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

This article examines the accepted axiom that courts should defer to the government's actions during national security crises even when such actions potentially violate citizens' constitutional rights. The paper questions two assumptions underlying that axiom - first, that executive officials are best equipped to determine when security needs justify liberty infringements and, second, that judges are particularly unqualified to meddle in security issues, even when civil liberties are involved. Relying on psychological theories regarding the role that fear plays in skewing risk assessment and historical analyses of past crises, the paper argues that times of crisis lend themselves to unnecessary …

The Doctrine Of Deference: Shifting Constitutional Presumptions And The Supreme Court's Restatement Of Student Rights, Bernard James, Joanne E.K. Larson

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Structuring Sentencing: Apprendi, The Offense Of Conviction, And The Limited Role Of Constitutional Law, Benjamin J. Priester

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mental Disorder And The Civil/Criminal Distinction, Grant H. Morris

San Diego Law Review

This essay, written as part of a symposium issue to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the University of San Diego Law School, discusses the evaporating distinction between sentence-serving convicts and mentally disordered nonconvicts who are involved in, or who were involved in, the criminal process–people we label as both bad and mad. By examining one Supreme Court case from each of the decades that follow the opening of the University of San Diego School of Law, the essay demonstrates how the promise that nonconvict mentally disordered persons would be treated equally with other civilly committed mental patients was made and …

Recovering (From) Enlightenment?, Steven D. Smith

San Diego Law Review

The American Constitution at its founding is often associated with "the Enlightenment," and modern liberal constitutionalism continues to be associated with what Bruce Ackerman refers to as "the spirit of the Enlightenment." This article contrasts the essential features of the classical or historical Enlightenment with those of the modern Enlightenment, as reflected in the thinking of theorists like Rawls, Dworkin, and others and as embodied in a good deal of modern constitutional doctrine. The article argues that the modern Enlightenment is more accurately viewed as an inversion than a continuation of the classical Enlightenment. Moreover, this inversion threatens to undermine …

Speech And Strife, Robert L. Tsai

Law and Contemporary Problems

Tsai examines the ways in which the US Supreme Court uses language to signal its authority. One technique of the Court is to frequently use the image of institutional conflict within its rulings.

Constitutional Law—Separation Of Powers—Restoring The Constitutional Formula To The Federal Judicial Appointment Process: Taking The Vice Out Of "Advice And Consent", Jason Eric Sharp

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Functional Departmentalism And Nonjudicial Interpretation: Who Determines Constitutional Meaning?, Dawn E. Johnsen

Law and Contemporary Problems

Johnsen examines the roles of nonjudicial entities--especially the Congress and the president--in the development of constitutional meaning. Although the other two branches are fearful of challenging judiciary supremacy, functional departmentalism may offer a certain degree of autonomy from the Court.

The Antebellum Political Background Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Garrett Epps

Law and Contemporary Problems

Epps presents information concerning the historical context of the Fourteenth Amendment. Among other implications, the Amendment should be viewed as an effort to defend the national government from control by transient majorities or undemocratic factions in the states.

The Cycles Of Constitutional Theory, Barry Friedman

Law and Contemporary Problems

Friedman presents information on the cyclical nature of constitutional theory. Because constitutional theory is a reaction to the current developments of constitutional law, it is interesting to view constitutional issues through the framework of different historical circumstances.

Foreword, Christopher H. Schroeder

Law and Contemporary Problems

In the summer of 2001, a group of lawyers, law professors, students, and judges formed the American Constitution Society. The organization’s avowed purpose is "to counter the dominant vision of American law today, a narrow conservative vision that lacks appropriate regard for the ways in which the law affects people’s lives: and to "restore the fundamental principles of respect for human dignity, protection of individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice to their rightful- and traditionally central-place in American law."1 By spring 2002, the American Constitution Society had formed more than fifty campus chapters, plus lawyer chapters …

Warning: Labeling Constitutions May Be Hazardous To Your Regime, Suzanna Sherry

Law and Contemporary Problems

Sherry presents information concerning the labeling of court decisions as being liberal or conservative victories. Because each case can be viewed in different aspects of liberalism and conservatism, it is more appropriate to simply recognize that there are important, non-ideological values at stake on both sides of each case.

Comparative Constitutional Reasoning: The Law And Strategy Of Selecting The Right Arguments, Taavi Annus

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

No abstract provided.

Missouri's Religious Freedom Restoration Act: A New Approach To The Cause Of Conscience, James A. Hanson

Missouri Law Review

This Law Summary will examine both the congressional and state efforts to buttress religious liberty guarantees. Of primary interest here is the most recent addition to this community: Missouri’s RFRA. After outlining the history and language of Missouri’s RFRA, this Summary will provide guidance for the interpretation and application of the statute in Missouri.

No Longer The Ugly Duckling: The European Courtof Human Rights Recognizes Transsexual Civil Rights In Goodwin V. United Kingdom And Sets The Tone For Future United States Reform, Betty C. Burke

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Charterwithout Borders? The Supreme Court Of Canada, Transnational Crime And Constitutional Rights And Freedoms, Robert J. Currie

Dalhousie Law Journal

The first decades of the Supreme Court of Canada's Charter jurisprudence have coincided roughly with an increase in the extent to which Canada is affected by transnational crime and the nation s consequential participation in inter-state efforts to combat it. The Court itself has remarked on its discrete "jurisprudence on matters involving Canada's international co-operation in criminal investigations and prosecutions." This article examines the Court s adoption of a different approach to Charter analysis in cases involving transnational elements and surveys where the Court has "drawn the line" in terms of Charter application. By way of analyzing jurisprudence on exclusion …

The Role Of Purposivism In The Delegation Of Rulemaking Authority To The Courts, Michael Rosensaft

ExpressO

The courts are often used by Congress as a “political lightning rod,” when Congress cannot decide how to resolve an issue. Congress relies on administrative agencies for their expertise, and it also makes sense for Congress to delegate some rulemaking authority to the courts, relying on a court’s expertise in developing caselaw in an incremental basis. However, this authority should not be lightly implied. A court can tell that Congress has delegated rulemaking authority to it when the purpose of the statute is clear and the text is broadly worded. It thus makes sense in these cases that purposivism should …

Free Exercise Of Religion In Germany And The United States, Edward J. Eberle

Law Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, Professor Edward Eberle provides a comparative overview of constitutional safeguards affecting religious freedom in Germany and the United States. Specifically the author analyzes the German and American approaches to the free exercise of religion within their respective constitutional systems. The result is an illuminating exposition that provides much insight for comparative and constitutional scholars.

In the years following the Second World War, religious freedoms in Germany developed along similar, individualist paths to those found in the United States Constitution. However, unlike the Constitution, the Basic Law's provisions touching on religious liberty are detailed and quite elaborate and …

Symbolic Counter-Speech, Howard M. Wasserman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fun With Dick And Jane And Lawrence: A Primer On Education Privacy As Constitutional Liberty, Susan P. Stuart

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Silence: Insolubly Ambiguous And Deadly: The Constitutional, Evidentiary And Moral Reasons For Excluding ‘Lack Of Remorse’ Testimony And Argument In Capital Sentencing Proceedings, Jules Epstein

Jules Epstein

No abstract provided.

The Agency Law Origins Of The Necessary And Proper Clause, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This is the first of several writings by the author on the original meaning of the Constitution's Necessary and Proper Clause. It explains part of the legal background of the Clause, identifies it as a recital (not an independent grant of power) of the 18th century doctrine of incidental powers, and explains the content of that doctrine. The article has since been updated and supplemented by the author's signed chapters in Lawson, Miller, Natelson & Seidman, The Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010).

The General Welfare Clause And The Public Trust: An Essay In Original Understanding, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This article explains the original meaning/understanding of the Constitution's General Welfare Clause, including the scope of the taxing and spending power granted to Congress

Reconstruction And Constitution Building In Iraq, A. Kevin Reinhart, Gilbert S. Merritt

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I would like to thank Vanderbilt Law School and all of the many sponsors for the invitation, and especially the Foreign Service Legal Society whose officers worked so hard to put this together. I appreciate very much the opportunity to talk to you all about Iraq. I need to begin with sort of a prelude: the things that were part of my training are in a way irrelevant to what I was doing this summer. I was not there in a professional capacity, as an Islamicist; I was there instead as a volunteer for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). I …