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Full-Text Articles in Law
Federalism, Free Competition, And Sherman Act Preemption Of State Restraints, Alan J. Meese
Federalism, Free Competition, And Sherman Act Preemption Of State Restraints, Alan J. Meese
Faculty Publications
The Sherman Act establishes free competition as the rule governing interstate trade. Banning private restraints cannot ensure that competitive markets allocate the nation's resources. State laws can pose identical threats to free markets, posing an obstacle to achieving Congress's goal to protect free competition.
The Sherman Act would thus override anticompetitive state laws under ordinary preemption standards. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court rejected such preemption in Parker v. Brown, creating the "state action doctrine." Parker and its progeny hold that state-imposed restraints are immune from Sherman Act preemption, even if they impose significant harm on out-of-state consumers. Parker's progeny …
The Modest Impact Of The Modern Confrontation Clause, Jeffrey Bellin, Diana Bibb
The Modest Impact Of The Modern Confrontation Clause, Jeffrey Bellin, Diana Bibb
Faculty Publications
The Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause grants criminal defendants the right "to be confronted with the witnesses against" them. A strict reading of this text would transform the criminal justice landscape by prohibiting the prosecution's use of hearsay at trial. But until recently, the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Clause was closer to the opposite. By tying the confrontation right to traditional hearsay exceptions, the Court's longstanding precedents granted prosecutors broad freedom to use out-of-court statements to convict criminal defendants.
The Supreme Court's 2004 decision in Crawford v. Washington was supposed to change all that. By severing the link between the …
Reconsidering Section 1983'S Nonabrogation Of Sovereign Immunity, Katherine Mims Crocker
Reconsidering Section 1983'S Nonabrogation Of Sovereign Immunity, Katherine Mims Crocker
Faculty Publications
Motivated by civil unrest and the police conduct that prompted it, Americans have embarked on a major reexamination of how constitutional enforcement works. One important component is 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which allows civil suits against any "person" who violates federal rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that "person" excludes states because Section 1983 flunks a condition of crystal clarity.
This Article reconsiders that conclusion--in legalese, Section 1983's nonabrogation of sovereign immunity--along multiple dimensions. Beginning with a negative critique, this Article argues that because the Court invented the crystal-clarity standard so long after Section 1983's enactment, the caselaw …
Pure Privacy, Jeffrey Bellin
Pure Privacy, Jeffrey Bellin
Faculty Publications
n 1890, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis began a storied legal tradition of trying to conceptualize privacy. Since that time, privacy's appeal has grown beyond those authors' wildest expectations, but its essence remains elusive. One of the rare points of agreement in boisterous academic privacy debates is that there is no consensus on what privacy means.
The modern trend is to embrace the ambiguity. Unable to settle on boundaries, scholars welcome a broad array of interests into an expanding theoretical framework. As a result, privacy is invoked in debates about COVID-19 contact tracing, police body cameras, marriage equality, facial recognition, …
Framing The Second Amendment: Gun Rights, Civil Rights And Civil Liberties, Timothy Zick
Framing The Second Amendment: Gun Rights, Civil Rights And Civil Liberties, Timothy Zick
Faculty Publications
Gun rights proponents and gun control advocates have devoted significant energy to framing the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. In constitutional discourse, advocates and commentators have referred to the Second Amendment as a "collective, ""civic republican," "individual," and 'fundamental" right. Gun rights advocates have defended the right to keep and bear arms on "law and order" grounds, while gun control proponents have urged regulation based on "public health, " "human rights, " and other concerns. These frames and concepts have significantly influenced how the right to keep and bear arms has been debated, interpreted, and enforced. This Article …
Antitrust Regulation And The Federal-State Balance: Restoring The Original Design, Alan J. Meese
Antitrust Regulation And The Federal-State Balance: Restoring The Original Design, Alan J. Meese
Faculty Publications
The U.S. Constitution divides authority over commerce between states and the national government. Passed in 1890, the Sherman Act (“the Act”) reflects this allocation of power, reaching only those harmful agreements that are “in restraint of... commerce among the several States.” This Article contends that the Supreme Court erred when it radically altered the balance between state and national power over trade restraints in 1948, abruptly abandoning decades of precedent recognizing exclusive state authority over most intrastate restraints. This revised construction of the Act contravened the statute’s apparent meaning, unduly expanded the reach of federal antitrust regulation, and undermined the …
First Amendment Lochnerism & The Origins Of The Incorporation Doctrine, James Y. Stern
First Amendment Lochnerism & The Origins Of The Incorporation Doctrine, James Y. Stern
Faculty Publications
The 20th century emergence of the incorporation doctrine is regarded as a critical development in constitutional law, but while issues related to the doctrine's justification have been studied and debated for more than fifty years, the causes and mechanics of its advent have received relatively little academic attention. This Essay, part of a symposium on Judge Jeffrey Sutton's recent book about state constitutional law, examines the doctrinal origins of incorporation, in an effort to help uncover why the incorporation doctrine emerged when it did and the way it did. It concludes that, for these purposes, incorporation is best understood as …
Liquidating Elector Discretion, Rebecca Green
Liquidating Elector Discretion, Rebecca Green
Faculty Publications
In Chiafalo et al. v. Washington, the US. Supreme Court determined that states may constitutionally remove or punish faithless electors. In support of its holding, the Court cited a 2014 case called National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, which blessed a form of constitutional interpretation that looks to settled practice (or "liquidation," as James Madison called it) to resolve constitutional ambiguity. The Court agreed with petitioners that electors following the majority will of voters in their state is settled practice. This Article engages this assertion, suggesting that the question is more nuanced than the Court allowed. It …
Murr V. Wisconsin And The Inherent Limits Of Regulatory Takings, Lynda L. Butler
Murr V. Wisconsin And The Inherent Limits Of Regulatory Takings, Lynda L. Butler
Faculty Publications
This article examines the confusion surrounding constitutional protection of property under the substantive due process and takings clauses, using Murr as a springboard for reconsidering the substantive due process/takings distinction and asking whether the regulatory takings doctrine should remain a viable constitutional concept despite its muddled principles. While powerful reasons support treating as compensable economic regulations that are functionally equivalent to physical takings, important differences between physical and regulatory takings need to be recognized as limits to the degree of equivalence possible and therefore to the regulatory takings doctrine. A look back at the evolutionary paths of substantive due process, …
The Supreme Court's Legitimacy Dilemma, Tara Leigh Grove
The Supreme Court's Legitimacy Dilemma, Tara Leigh Grove
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Government Standing And The Fallacy Of Institutional Injury, Tara Leigh Grove
Government Standing And The Fallacy Of Institutional Injury, Tara Leigh Grove
Faculty Publications
A new brand of plaintiff has come to federal court. In cases involving the Affordable Care Act, the Defense of Marriage Act, and partisan gerrymandering, government institutions have brought suit to redress “institutional injuries”—that is, claims of harm to their constitutional powers or duties. Jurists and scholars are increasingly enthusiastic about these lawsuits, arguing (for example) that the Senate should have standing to protect its power to ratify treaties; that the House of Representatives may sue to preserve its role in the appropriations process; and that the President may go to court to vindicate his Article II prerogatives. This Article …
Supreme Court Norms Of Impersonality, Allison Orr Larsen
Supreme Court Norms Of Impersonality, Allison Orr Larsen
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Constitutional Law In An Age Of Alternative Facts, Allison Orr Larsen
Constitutional Law In An Age Of Alternative Facts, Allison Orr Larsen
Faculty Publications
Objective facts—while perhaps always elusive—are now an endangered species. A mix of digital speed, social media, fractured news, and party polarization has led to what some call a “post-truth” society: a culture where what is true matters less than what we want to be true. At the same moment in time when “alternative facts” reign supreme, we have also anchored our constitutional law in general observations about the way the world works. Do violent video games harm child brain development? Is voter fraud widespread? Is a “partial-birth abortion” ever medically necessary? Judicial pronouncements on questions like these are common, and— …
Tiers Of Scrutiny In A Hierarchical Judiciary, Tara Leigh Grove
Tiers Of Scrutiny In A Hierarchical Judiciary, Tara Leigh Grove
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Article Iii In The Political Branches, Tara Leigh Grove
Article Iii In The Political Branches, Tara Leigh Grove
Faculty Publications
In many separation of powers debates, scholars excavate the practices and constitutional interpretations of Congress and the executive branch in order to discern the scope of various constitutional provisions. I argue that similar attention to political branch practice is warranted in the Article III context. That is true, in large part because much of the constitutional history of the federal courts has been written not by the federal judiciary, but by the legislative and executive branches. To illustrate this point, this Essay focuses on the Exceptions Clause of Article III. The Supreme Court has said little about the meaning of …
Same-Sex Cynicism And The Self-Defeating Pursuit Of Social Acceptance Through Litigation, James G. Dwyer
Same-Sex Cynicism And The Self-Defeating Pursuit Of Social Acceptance Through Litigation, James G. Dwyer
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Congress's (Limited) Power To Represent Itself In Court, Tara Leigh Grove, Neal Devins
Congress's (Limited) Power To Represent Itself In Court, Tara Leigh Grove, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
Scholars and jurists have long assumed that, when the executive branch declines to defend a federal statute, Congress may intervene in federal court to defend the law. When invalidating the Defense of Marriage Act, for example, no Supreme Court Justice challenged the authority of the House of Representatives to defend federal laws in at least some circumstances. At the same time, in recent litigation over the Fast and Furious gun-running case, the Department of Justice asserted that the House could not go to court to enforce a subpoena against the executive. In this Article, we seek to challenge both claims. …
The Resilience Of Property, Lynda L. Butler
The Resilience Of Property, Lynda L. Butler
Faculty Publications
Resilience is essential to the ability of property to face transforming social and environmental change. For centuries, property has responded to such change through a dialectical process that identifies emerging disciplinary perspectives and debates conflicting values and norms. This dialectic promotes the resilience of property, allowing it to adapt to changing conditions and needs. Today the mainstream economic theory dominating common law property is progressively being intertwined with constitutionally protected property, undermining its long-term resilience. The coupling of the economic vision of ordinary property with constitutional property embeds the assumptions, choices, and values of the economic theory into both realms …
The Normative & Historical Cases For Proportional Deportation, Angela M. Banks
The Normative & Historical Cases For Proportional Deportation, Angela M. Banks
Faculty Publications
Is citizenship status a legitimate basis for allocating rights in the United States?
In immigration law the right to remain in the United States is significantly tied to citizenship status. Citizens have an absolutely secure right to remain in the United States regardless of their actions. Noncitizens’ right to remain is less secure because they can be deported if convicted of specific criminal offenses. This Article contends that citizenship is not a legitimate basis for allocating the right to remain. This Article offers normative and historical arguments for a right to remain for noncitizens. This right should be granted to …
Property's Constitution, James Y. Stern
Property's Constitution, James Y. Stern
Faculty Publications
Long-standing disagreements over the definition of property as a matter of legal theory present a special problem in constitutional law. The Due Process and Takings Clauses establish individual rights that can be asserted only if “property” is at stake. Yet the leading cases interpreting constitutional property doctrines have never managed to articulate a coherent general view of property, and in some instances have reached opposite conclusions about its meaning. Most notably, government benefits provided in the form of individual legal entitlements are considered “property” for purposes of due process but not takings doctrines, a conflict the cases acknowledge but do …
Democratic Inclusion, Cognitive Development, And The Age Of Electoral Majority, Vivian E. Hamilton
Democratic Inclusion, Cognitive Development, And The Age Of Electoral Majority, Vivian E. Hamilton
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Indefensible Duty To Defend, Neal Devins, Saikrishna B. Prakash
The Indefensible Duty To Defend, Neal Devins, Saikrishna B. Prakash
Faculty Publications
Modern Justice Department opinions insist that the executive branch must enforce and defend laws. In the first article to systematically examine Department of Justice refusals to defend, we make four points. First, the duties to enforce and defend lack any sound basis in the Constitution. Hence, while President Obama is right to refuse to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, he is wrong to continue to enforce a law he believes is unconstitutional. Second, rather than being grounded in the Constitution, the duties are better explained by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) desire to enhance its independence and status. By …
Same-Sex Marriage And The New Judicial Federalism: Why State Courts Should Not Consider Out-Of-State Backlash, Neal Devins
Same-Sex Marriage And The New Judicial Federalism: Why State Courts Should Not Consider Out-Of-State Backlash, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Clashing Visions Of A "Living" Constitution: Of Opportunists And Obligationists, William W. Van Alstyne
Clashing Visions Of A "Living" Constitution: Of Opportunists And Obligationists, William W. Van Alstyne
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
A Darwinist View Of The Living Constitution, Scott Dodson
A Darwinist View Of The Living Constitution, Scott Dodson
Faculty Publications
The metaphor of a “living” Constitution imports terms from biology into law and, in the process, relies on biology for its meaning. A proper understanding of biology is therefore central to understanding the idea of “living” constitutionalism. Yet despite its rampant use by both opponents and proponents of living constitutionalism, and despite the current fervent debate over whether biology can be useful to the law, no one has evaluated the metaphor from a biological perspective. This Essay begins that inquiry in an interdisciplinary study of law, science, and philology. The Essay first evaluates the metaphor as it is currently used …
Challenging Political Boundaries In Post-Conflict States, Angela M. Banks
Challenging Political Boundaries In Post-Conflict States, Angela M. Banks
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Can We Make The Constitution More Democratic?, Ilya Somin, Neal Devins
Can We Make The Constitution More Democratic?, Ilya Somin, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Tom Delay: Popular Constitutionalist?, Neal Devins
Tom Delay: Popular Constitutionalist?, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Reflections On The Teaching Of Constitutional Law, William W. Van Alstyne
Reflections On The Teaching Of Constitutional Law, William W. Van Alstyne
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Academic Expert Before Congress: Observations And Lessons From Bill Van Alstyne's Testimony, Neal Devins
The Academic Expert Before Congress: Observations And Lessons From Bill Van Alstyne's Testimony, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.