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Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Law

Constitutionalism In Zambia: Past, Present And Future, Muna Ndulo, Robert B. Kent Dec 2014

Constitutionalism In Zambia: Past, Present And Future, Muna Ndulo, Robert B. Kent

Muna B Ndulo

No abstract provided.


Jefferson's Constitutions, Gerald F. Leonard Oct 2014

Jefferson's Constitutions, Gerald F. Leonard

Faculty Scholarship

Between 1787 and 1840, the Constitution gained a far more democratic meaning than it had had at the Founding, and Thomas Jefferson was a key figure in the process of democratization. But, while more democratic in inclination than many of the Framers, he fell far short of the radically democratic constitutionalism of his most important acolytes, Martin Van Buren and Andrew Jackson. This chapter of Constitutions and the Classics explains that Jefferson was actually much less attached to democracy and more to law as the heart of the republican Constitution. Compared to the 1830s founders of the nation’s democratic Constitution, …


The Founders’ Origination Clause (And Implications For The Affordable Care Act), Prof. Robert G. Natelson Aug 2014

The Founders’ Origination Clause (And Implications For The Affordable Care Act), Prof. Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This Article is the first comprehensive examination of the original legal force of the Constitution’s Origination Clause, drawing not merely on the records of the 1787-90 constitutional debates, but on founding-era British and American legislative practice and other sources. This Article defines the bills governed by the Origination Clause, the precise meaning of the House origination requirement, and the extent of the Senate’s amendment power. For illustrative purposes, the Article tests against its findings the currently-litigated claim that the financial penalty for failure to acquire individual health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is invalid as a …


Canadian Constitutional Law, Fourth Edition, Patrick Macklem, Carol Rogerson, Joel Bakan, Jean Leclair, John Borrows, Ian Lee, Sujit Choudhry, Richard Moon, Robin Elliot, R. C. B. Risk, Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens, Kent Roach, Donna Greschner, Bruce Ryder, Patricia Hughes, David Schneiderman, Lorraine Weinrib Jun 2014

Canadian Constitutional Law, Fourth Edition, Patrick Macklem, Carol Rogerson, Joel Bakan, Jean Leclair, John Borrows, Ian Lee, Sujit Choudhry, Richard Moon, Robin Elliot, R. C. B. Risk, Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens, Kent Roach, Donna Greschner, Bruce Ryder, Patricia Hughes, David Schneiderman, Lorraine Weinrib

Sujit Choudhry

In its 4th edition, Canadian Constitutional Law continues to offer a truly national perspective — drawing on an editorial team that is rich with regional, linguistic, and scholarly diversity. This edition remains true to the structure and purposes of previous editions, especially with regard to the editors’ commitment to the idea that understanding constitutional history is critical to comprehending the present and future of Canadian constitutional law.


Constitutional Exaptation, Political Dysfunction, And The Recess Appointments Clause, Jay D. Wexler May 2014

Constitutional Exaptation, Political Dysfunction, And The Recess Appointments Clause, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

The so-called Recess Appointments Clause of the Constitution provides that: “The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”1 As of only a few years ago, I considered this clause so minor and quirky that I included it in a book about ten of the Constitution’s “oddest” clauses, right alongside such clearly weird provisions as the Title of Nobility Clause and the Third Amendment.2 Though I recognized that the Recess Appointments Clause was probably the least odd …


A Pragmatic Republic, If You Can Keep It, William R. Sherman Apr 2014

A Pragmatic Republic, If You Can Keep It, William R. Sherman

Michigan Law Review

These things we know to be true: Our modern administrative state is a leviathan unimaginable by the Founders. It stands on thin constitutional ice, on cracks between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It burdens and entangles state and local governments in schemes that threaten federalism. And it presents an irresolvable dilemma regarding democratic accountability and political independence. We know these things to be true because these precepts animate some of the most significant cases and public law scholarship of our time. Underlying our examination of administrative agencies is an assumption that the problems they present would have been bizarre …


Does “The Freedom Of The Press” Include A Right To Anonymity? The Original Meaning, Robert G. Natelson Mar 2014

Does “The Freedom Of The Press” Include A Right To Anonymity? The Original Meaning, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This Article examines relevant evidence to determine whether, as some have argued, the original legal force of the First Amendment’s “freedom of the press” included a per se right to anonymous authorship. The Article concludes that, except in cases in which freedom of the press had been abused, it did. Thus, from an originalist point of view, Supreme Court cases such as Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which upheld statutes requiring disclosure of donors to political advertising, were erroneously decided.


The Origins And Meaning Of “Vacancies That May Happen During The Recess” In The Constitution’S Recess Appointments Clause, Robert G. Natelson Jan 2014

The Origins And Meaning Of “Vacancies That May Happen During The Recess” In The Constitution’S Recess Appointments Clause, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

There has been longstanding uncertainty about the meaning of “the Recess” and “Vacancies that may happen” in the Constitution’s Recess Appointments Clause. This Article finds that both “the Recess” and close variants of “Vacancies that may happen” were standard terms in Founding-Era legislative practice, and appear copiously in legislative records. Those records inform us that “the Recess” means only the intersession recess and that a vacancy “happens” only when it first arises.


Fruit Of The Poisoned Vine? Some Comparative Observations On Chile’S Constitution, Tom Ginsburg Jan 2014

Fruit Of The Poisoned Vine? Some Comparative Observations On Chile’S Constitution, Tom Ginsburg

Tom Ginsburg

No abstract provided.


The National Security State: The End Of Separation Of Powers, Michael E. Tigar Jan 2014

The National Security State: The End Of Separation Of Powers, Michael E. Tigar

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Charles A. Beard & The Columbia School Of Political Economy: Revisiting The Intellectual Roots Of The Beardian Thesis, Ajay K. Mehrotra Jan 2014

Charles A. Beard & The Columbia School Of Political Economy: Revisiting The Intellectual Roots Of The Beardian Thesis, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A century after it was first published, Charles A. Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution remains a significant and controversial part of constitutional scholarship and history. Just as Beard sought to historicize the Founders as they drafted and adopted the Constitution, this article attempts to historicize Beard as he researched and wrote his classic text on the Constitution. Because Beard was both a graduate student and professor at Columbia University before and while he researched and wrote his book, this article explores the particular influence that Columbia University’s institutional and intellectual climate may have had on Beard and the …


Epilogue: Some Sober Second Thoughts, Christopher Hoebeke Dec 2013

Epilogue: Some Sober Second Thoughts, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

No abstract provided.


The Road To Mass Democracy: Original Intent And The Seventeenth Amendment, Christopher Hoebeke Dec 2013

The Road To Mass Democracy: Original Intent And The Seventeenth Amendment, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

Until 1913 and passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, US senators were elected by state legislatures, not directly by the people. Progressive Era reformers urged this revision in answer to the corruption of state "machines" under the dominance of party bosses. They also believed that direct elections would make the Senate more responsive to popular concerns regarding the concentrations of business, capital, and labor that in the industrial era gave rise to a growing sense of individual voicelessness. Popular control over the higher affairs of government was thought to be possible, since the spread of information …


The Paradox Of Popular Sovereignty: An Introductory Essay, Christopher Hoebeke Dec 2013

The Paradox Of Popular Sovereignty: An Introductory Essay, Christopher Hoebeke

Christopher H Hoebeke

No abstract provided.


The Interpretation Of Constitutional History, Or Charles Beard Becomes A Fortuneteller (With An Emphasis On Free Expression), Stephen M. Feldman Dec 2013

The Interpretation Of Constitutional History, Or Charles Beard Becomes A Fortuneteller (With An Emphasis On Free Expression), Stephen M. Feldman

Stephen M. Feldman

In "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States", Charles A. Beard argued that the framers advocated for and defended the Constitution because of their personal economic interest, that the pursuit of common good was not so much a motive as a veneer. The current historical consensus is that Beard's thrust is incorrect. In this essay, I largely agree with this assessment, but his economic approach can add an important element to the discussion of constitutional history. And though his economic depiction does not closely fit the framing of the Constitution, it uncannily fits the Roberts Court's current …