Digital Commons Network^™

The Constitutional Contributions Of John Dickinson, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This article reviews the impact on the drafting and adoption of the U.S. Constitution of the man sometimes referred to as the most underappreciated Founder

Statutory Retroactivity: The Founders' View, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

The article explains the extent to which the Founders' Constitution permitted and prohibited retroactive legislation, and the provisions in that document relevant to the question.

A Reminder: The Constitutional Values Of Sympathy And Independence, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

Nearly all participants in the American Founding shared constitutiona/ values of "sympathy" and "independence." According to the ideal of sympathy, government actors should mirror the full range of popular attitudes. According to the ideal of independence, voters should remain independent of other citizens and of governmental entities, and those entities should remain independent of, and competitive with, each other. Sympathy and independence were central, not peripheral, to the Founders' Constitution, so the document cannot be interpreted properly without keeping them in view. The author provides examples of how constitutional practice might be altered had these central values not been overlooked.

Is There A Little (Or Not So Little) Constitutional Crisis Developing In Indian Law?, Frank Pommersheim

Frank Pommersheim

No abstract provided.

James Madison And The Constitution's “Convention For Proposing Amendments", Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This article traces the progress of James Madison's thought on the Constitution's "convention for proposing amendments as a way for states to assert themselves against the federal government. Madison saw the convention as an important part of the Constitution, and a constitutional alternative to nullification.

Urinating On The Pennsylvania Constitution? Drug Testing Of High School Athletes And Article I, Section 8 Of The Pennsylvania Constitution, Amanda Smith

Amanda Sholtis

The Textualist (Reviewing George Anastaplo, The Constitution Of 1787: A Commentary (1989)), Robert C. Power

Robert C Power

No abstract provided.

Obscenity And The Right To Be Let Alone: The Balancing Of Constitutional Rights, Stephen W. Gard

Stephen W. Gard

While on the one hand a conceptual framework for obscenity cases is essential, it is equally true that the Supreme Court has in the past accepted theories proposed by commentators without making significant progress in extricating itself from the quagmire. In light of this situation, the purpose of this Note is not to urge the Court to accept any new theory for dealing with obscenity, but, rather, to suggest a conceptual framework present in the results of its prior decisions and to urge its explicit acceptance by the Court. No attempt will be made to be faithful to all the …

Treaty And Constitution. A Comparative Analysis Of An Uneasy Relationship, Theodor Jr Schilling

Theodor JR Schilling

Constitutions may be reversed by revolution. Treaty-constitutions may also be terminated by mutual consent of the contracting parties. A secession and a unilateral denunciation are, as a rule, not permissible under international law but will be recognized if effective. The only possibility to prevent a secession is to take away the social substratum of a secession i.e. to merge the peoples of the state from which the secession would take place. Such a merger allows the people, as constituent power, to adopt the treaty-constitution as its own. Such an adoption may be made in the forms of the creation of …