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The Rule That Proves The Exception: A Constitutional State Of Emergency In The United States, Benjamin Salvatore Difabbio

Senior Projects Spring 2013

A study of states of exception in constitutional law, this project proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, providing for limited derogations of constitutional rights under declarations of emergency. The project begins with an analysis of US Supreme Court case law dealing with limitations of constitutional rights (e.g. suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the freedoms of speech and press) during periods of crisis, such as war or the threat of war. This discussion demonstrates the perils of precedent in normalizing the exception in the absence of a constitutional state of emergency. The second chapter …