Corruption Cop, Adam White
Jun 2018
Corruption Cop, Adam White
Adam White
Corruption is a primary descriptor of politics, and of course corruption is bad on its merits. But what is wrong about the practice it is the lack of an adequate response. Assume then that corruption persists, not primarily because of bad moral character on the part of officers, but because of poor constitutional design.
It is curious however that contemporary constitutional theory resists innovation. This paper takes up the challenge by proposing a new, fourth constitutional branch and office: a “corruption cop”. A corruption cop possesses the exclusive authority to remove corrupt officers from public office.
The authority to remove …
Gerrymandering And Conceit: The Supreme Court's Conflict With Itself, Mckay Cunningham
Jan 2018
Gerrymandering And Conceit: The Supreme Court's Conflict With Itself, Mckay Cunningham
McKay Cunningham
In November 2016, a federal court struck as unconstitutional Wisconsin’s redistricting map under both the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause. The court’s decision in Whitford v. Gill marks the first time a federal court invalidated a redistricting map as unconstitutional for partisan gerrymandering in over thirty years. Wisconsin has appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court, which recently granted review. The Supreme Court has long held that extreme partisan gerrymandering violates equal protection but has simultaneously refused to determine the merits of gerrymandering disputes, instead labeling them as non-justiciable political questions. In particular, the Court has …
The Amendment Effect, Jonathan L. Marshfield
Dec 2017
The Amendment Effect, Jonathan L. Marshfield
Jonathan Marshfield
Conventional theories of constitutional design suggest that frequent formal amendment of a constitution’s text likely has a restraining effect on the practice of judicial review. On these theories, courts are more likely to favor the status quo when construing a constitution that is amended frequently, and more likely to issue transformative rulings when a constitution is difficult to amend. This Article investigates these claims by analyzing an original data-set of hand-coded opinions from state high courts in the United States. Because state constitutional amendment rates vary widely, these data provide a meaningful opportunity to explore how judges practice judicial review …
