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The Economic Impact Of Access To Reproductive Healthcare: A New Constitutional Argument, Niyati Narang Jan 2020

The Economic Impact Of Access To Reproductive Healthcare: A New Constitutional Argument, Niyati Narang

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis attempts to offer an alternative constitutional argument to Roe v Wade by focusing on the economic liberties granted by the 14th Amendment. By highlighting the connection between reproductive healthcare (abortion access, the pill) and women's economic development, this thesis presents an alternative argument to Roe.


Harmless Constitutional Error: How A Minor Doctrine Meant To Improve Judicial Efficiency Is Eroding America's Founding Ideals, Ross C. Reggio Jan 2019

Harmless Constitutional Error: How A Minor Doctrine Meant To Improve Judicial Efficiency Is Eroding America's Founding Ideals, Ross C. Reggio

CMC Senior Theses

The United States Constitution had been in existence for almost two hundred years before the Supreme Court decided that some violations of constitutional rights may be too insignificant to warrant remedial action. Known as "harmless error," this statutory doctrine allows a court to affirm a conviction when a mere technicality or minor defect did not affect the defendant's substantial rights. The doctrine aims to promote judicial efficiency and judgment finality. The Court first applied harmless error to constitutional violations by shifting the statutory test away from the error's effect on substantial rights to its impact on the jury's verdict. Over …


Render Unto Caesar: How Misunderstanding A Century Of Free Exercise Jurisprudence Forged And Then Fractured The Rfra Coalition, John S. Blattner Jan 2017

Render Unto Caesar: How Misunderstanding A Century Of Free Exercise Jurisprudence Forged And Then Fractured The Rfra Coalition, John S. Blattner

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis provides a comprehensive history of Supreme Court Free Exercise Clause jurisprudence from 1879 until the present day. It describes how a jurisdictional approach to free exercise dominated the Court’s rulings from its first Free Exercise Clause case in 1879 until Sherbert v. Verner in 1963, and how Sherbert introduced an accommodationist precedent which was ineffectively, incompletely, and inconsistently defined by the Court. This thesis shows how proponents of accommodationism furthered a false narrative overstating the scope and consistency of Sherbert’s precedent following the Court’s repudiation of accommodationism and return to full jurisdictionalism with Employment Division v. Smith …


California's Foreign Relations, Christopher Gaarder Jan 2015

California's Foreign Relations, Christopher Gaarder

CMC Senior Theses

Globalization has significantly increased the number of stakeholders in transnational issues in recent decades. The typical list of the new players in global affairs often includes non-state actors like non-governmental organizations, multinational corporations, and international organizations. Sub-national governments, however, have been given relatively little attention even though they, too, have a significant interest and ability to shape the increasing flow of capital, goods, services, people, and ideas that has so profoundly influenced the global political economy in recent decades. California, arguably the most significant among sub-national governments – its economy would be seventh or eighth in the world at $2.2 …


Reforming Affirmative Action For The Future: A Constitutional And Consequentialist Approach, Quinn Chasan Jan 2013

Reforming Affirmative Action For The Future: A Constitutional And Consequentialist Approach, Quinn Chasan

CMC Senior Theses

In my analysis of affirmative action policy, I began the search without having formed any opinion whatsoever. The topic was interesting to me, and after reading a mass of news editorials and their op-eds, I decided to take up the argument for myself. Other than the fact that I am a student, I have no stake in affirmative action policy. This paper relies primarily on the foremost half-dozen or so notable mismatch theory scholars, a close reading of an innumerable number of Supreme Court opinions, affirmative action related studies from higher education academics and policy institutes, and how historical executive …


The Federal Judicial Vacancy Crisis: Origins And Solutions, Ryan Shaffer Jan 2012

The Federal Judicial Vacancy Crisis: Origins And Solutions, Ryan Shaffer

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the causes of the rise in vacancies on the federal courts in recent decades. Under President Barack Obama, the number of vacancies on the federal courts has sharply jumped. This is due to firm opposition by Senate Republicans, who have used the various procedural tools of that body to make it difficult for nominees to get confirmation. This antagonism is the result of a shift in how the parties view the courts and their role in the American political process. The Warren Court's expansion of substantive due process rights increased the Court's powers to the chagrin of …