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Full-Text Articles in Law

Interpreting The Fourteenth Amendment: Two Don'ts And Three Dos, Garrett Epps Dec 2007

Interpreting The Fourteenth Amendment: Two Don'ts And Three Dos, Garrett Epps

All Faculty Scholarship

A sophisticated reading of the legislative record of the framing of the Fourteenth Amendment can provide courts and scholars with some general interpretive principles to guide their application of the Amendment to current legal problems. The author argues that two common legal conceptions about the Amendment are, in fact, misconceptions. The first is that the Amendment was chiefly concerned with the immediate situation of freed slaves in the former slave states. Instead, he argues, the legislative record suggests that the framers were broadly concerned with the rights not only of freed slaves but also of foreign-born immigrants in the North …


Pro-Gun Scholars Twist Constitution, Kenneth Lasson Nov 2007

Pro-Gun Scholars Twist Constitution, Kenneth Lasson

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Earlier this year, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia became the first federal tribunal to strike down a local gun-control law, holding that the Founding Fathers would have allowed all private citizens to arm themselves.


After 150 Years, Worst Supreme Court Decision Ever Continues To Haunt, F. Michael Higginbotham Mar 2007

After 150 Years, Worst Supreme Court Decision Ever Continues To Haunt, F. Michael Higginbotham

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In 1857, the Supreme Court rendered a decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, declaring that it had no jurisdiction to hear Dred Scott's claim to freedom because he was black and, therefore, not a citizen of the United States. This article argues that not only was the decision morally reprehensible, it was also based on an erroneous interpretation of the Constitution.


Civil Liberties In Uncivil Times: The Perilous Quest To Preserve American Freedoms, Kenneth Lasson Jan 2007

Civil Liberties In Uncivil Times: The Perilous Quest To Preserve American Freedoms, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

The perilous quest to preserve civil liberties in uncivil times is not an easy one, but the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin should remain a beacon: "Societies that trade liberty for security end often with neither." Part I of this article is a brief history of civil liberties in America during past conflicts. Part II describes various actions taken by the government to conduct the war on terrorism - including invasions of privacy, immigration policies, deportations, profiling, pre-trial detentions, and secret military tribunals. Part III analyzes the serious Constitutional questions raised by the government's actions in fighting terrorism. The thesis throughout …


Remarkable Evolution: The Early Constitutional History Of Maryland, Charles A. Rees Jan 2007

Remarkable Evolution: The Early Constitutional History Of Maryland, Charles A. Rees

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.