Law Commons^™

The Japanese Constitution As Law And The Legitimacy Of The Supreme Court’S Constitutional Decisions: A Response To Matsui, Craig Martin

Craig Martin

This article, from a conference at Washington University School of Law on the Supreme Court of Japan, responds to an article by Shigenori Matsui, “Why is the Japanese Supreme Court is so conservative?” Professor Matsui’s article makes the argument that a significant factor is the extent to which the judges fail to view the Constitution as positive law requiring judicial enforcement. It is novel in its emphasis on an explanation grounded in law, and the decision-making process, rather than the political, institutional, and cultural explanations that are so often offered. In this article, Borrowing from Kermit Roosevelt’s arguments on judicial …

Constitutional Rights And Judicial Independence: Lessons From Iowa, Ian C. Bartrum

Ian C Bartrum

Iowa held its 2010 judicial retention elections in the shadow of Varnum v. Brien, the 2009 Supreme Court opinion recognizing same sex marriage. As the result of highly politicized campaign, three talented jurists lost their seats on the Court.

This commentary examines that election and offers a structural solution that might better protect constitutional rights against majoritarian intimidation.

An Empirical Study Of Obstacle Preemption In The Supreme Court, Gregory M. Dickinson

Gregory M Dickinson

The Supreme Court’s federal preemption decisions are notoriously unpredictable. Traditional left-right voting alignments break down in the face of competing ideological pulls. The breakdown of predictable voting blocs leaves the business interests most affected by federal preemption uncertain of the scope of potential liability to injured third parties and unsure even of whether state or federal law will be applied to future claims.

This empirical analysis of the Court’s decisions over the last fifteen years sheds light on the Court’s unique voting alignments in obstacle preemption cases. A surprising anti–obstacle preemption coalition is forming as Justice Thomas gradually positions himself …

Legal Pluralism In Post-Colonial Africa: Linking Statutory And Customary Adjudication In Mozambique, David Pimentel

David Pimentel

Legal pluralism is a contemporary reality and a challenge in most post-colonial African states, as they grapple with how to preserve the cultural heritage reflected in their customary law and institutions, while attempting to function as modern constitutional regimes. Few of them have found structural solutions for linkages between and mutual co-existence of multiple legal regimes within the same state. The policy that will drive the establishment of proper linkages must be approached with an eye to what the purpose of preserving a legally pluralistic regime, distinguishing the motivations of many—colonists in the past, and political opportunists today—who have exploited …

Judging Women, Stephen J. Choi, G. Mitu Gulati, Mirya R. Holman, Eric A. Posner

Mirya R Holman

Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s assertion that female judges might be better than male judges has generated accusations of sexism and potential bias. An equally controversial claim is that male judges are better than female judges because the latter have benefited from affirmative action. These claims are susceptible to empirical analysis. Primarily using a dataset of all the state high court judges in 1998-2000, we estimate three measures of judicial output: opinion production, outside state citations, and co-partisan disagreements. For many of our tests, we fail to find significant gender effects on judicial performance. Where we do find significant gender effects for …

Gender And Regime Politics In U.S. Cities, Mirya R. Holman

Mirya R Holman

The scholarship on urban politics often focuses on the political economy provided by regimes, or long-term coalitions between local politicians and private actors like the business community. Notably absent from the regime scholarship is any substantial investigation of the role that urban regimes play in the promotion of the interests of women living in urban areas. A comparison of the priorities of urban regimes with the interests of women in politics suggests substantial conflicts. The implications for women serving in urban governance are explored, as are the consequences for urban politics, women in politics, and democracy.

Evaluating Political And Environmental Behavior In The Face Of A Green Crisis: An Experimental Analysis, Mirya R. Holman, Travis G. Coan

Mirya R Holman

Incidents such as the Japanese Nuclear Meltdowns and the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico remind us that environmental issues can be central to activating political activity and influencing political opinions. While the literature suggesting a relationship between environmental risk and action is extensive, few scholars directly examine the relationship between perceived environmental threat and political behavior, and even fewer adopt research designs appropriate for making causal inferences. Building on a growing literature in political psychology that examines the effects of crises and emotions on political opinions, we examine the relationship between environmental threat and political behavior …

Gender And Power In American Cities: Investigations Of The Effect Of Mayoral Gender On Deliberation, Representation, And Policymaking In U.S. Cities, Mirya R. Holman

Mirya R Holman

The representation of historically marginalized groups in the democratic policy process serves many purposes, including introducing new and differing perspectives to the policymaking process, opening the policymaking process up to disenfranchised groups, and changing the deliberative process of urban policymaking. In this paper, I investigate the effect of gender on policy priorities and policy outcomes of mayors in U.S. cities. Using a combination of interview data and coded city council minutes, I examine the effect of mayoral gender on the discussion of issues of importance to female constituents, the nature of deliberation in city councils, and the engagement of the …

Disruption And Impossibility: The Unfortunate Resolution Of The Iroquois Land Claims In Federal Courts, Kathryn Fort

Kathryn Fort

In less than five years, the federal appellate courts changed the law so drastically to all but end more than thirty years of modern litigation, reversing years of relative fairness at the district court level. These actions required a fundamental shift in the law of equity: the creation of a new equitable defense for governments against Indian land claims. The first part of this article will give a brief history of the New York land claims, focusing on the Oneida Indian Nation and the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York. While the tribes have been fighting the status of this …

Electing Our Judges And Judicial Independence: The Supreme Court's "Triple Whammy", Martin Belsky

Martin H. Belsky

In this article, Martin Belsky makes the case for judicial selection based on merit, as opposed to popular elections. Belsky cites Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Company and the recent defeat of three Iowa supreme court justices because of their opinion in a controversial gay marriage case for the proposition that judicial elections can, and do, yield unjust results. Belsky asserts the need for judicial independence, but concludes that this goal is not achievable through elections because of the "triple whammy" of constitutional limitations: (1) the First Amendment protection of the right of judges and judicial candidates to give specific, …

A New Public Interest Appellate Model: Public Counsel’S Court-Based Self-Help Clinic And Pro Bono “Triage” For Indigent Pro Se Civil Litigants On Appeal, Meehan Rasch

Meehan Rasch

A variety of new “pro se” or “pro bono” appellate programs have been sprouting up around the country in recent years. Courts, bar associations, and legal services and advocacy organizations are implementing these projects to grapple with the challenges raised by increasing numbers of pro se (self-represented) and indigent civil litigants in appellate courts. Judicial operational systems designed on the premise of adequately counseled parties are ill-prepared to handle an influx of self-represented litigants, posing frustrations for both pro se litigants and court personnel. The expansion of pro se litigation strains appellate court resources and staff, but because of the …

Justice Stevens' Jurisprudence Of Respect, Nancy S. Marder

Nancy S. Marder

No abstract provided.

Fernando Pessoa, Hermenêutica Jurídica E Retórica, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Um curioso aspecto do pensamento de Pessoa foi deixado por ele esparso, e o que parece totalmente ao acaso dos investigadores: o Direito. Em política, temos até um auto-retrato bastante completo, e a sucessão de textos que foi escrevendo, em prosa e em verso, facilmente nos permite reconstruir um percurso, a partir das suas bases ideológicas. Mas o que pensaria Pessoa do Direito? Neste caso, o “fingidor” não fingiu, não posou para a sua tão cuidadosamente preparada fama póstuma. Estamos, assim, perante um aspecto da sua vida mental que parece ter escapado à composição para um público (ainda que futuro), …

Desafios Constitucionais, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Há tentativas de fazer recuar as Constituições, de as “rever e romper”. Foi um sonho desde sempre acalentado pelos inimigos e falsos amigos das constituições modernas, sociais, democráticas, culturais, humanísticas, mas que hoje encontra terreno mais propício. Porque as forças sociais, as “pedras vivas”, estão mais vulneráveis. E os “Homens Livres” menos unidos e interventivos, pelo menos por agora. E a crise gera o medo, e o medo a vã esperança em mudanças radicais, que seriam afinal para pior. É assim que se vão incubando as ditaduras. Tal ocorre sobretudo nos países que, dominados por crises económicas e financeiras, se …

Universidade: Um Manifesto Pelo Sonho, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Por muito vilipendiado que seja, e é-o praticamente todos os dias por sociedades que recusam ser educadas e se comprazem na sua má-educação e incultura, além de por políticos impreparados, e mesmo por colegas não solidários, o Professor que o é por vocação está como Lutero: aqui está, aqui fica, não pode fazer de outra maneira. Só este professor por vocação e por sonho ainda faz a Escola valer. Até quando continuará a haver professores destes? E até onde irá a sua inadaptação com as condições em que tem de sobreviver, fazendo um papel que lhe não é reconhecido, tantas …

Concretizar A Constituição, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

O presente artigo pondera observações sobre a Constituição Portuguesa: é ela realmente normativa, ou inefectiva? Impõe-se uma análise das críticas ao statu quo constitucional: dirigem-se elas à Constituição em si ou apenas ao seu deficiente cumprimento? Finalmente, em que medida é que a Constituição, parecendo a alguns impecilho para a resolução da crise, contudo pode ser adjuvante para a sua superação.

Crítica Da Razão Jurídica, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

A razão jurídica racionalista fez-se abstraccionismo e dogmatismo e tornou-se legalismo. O Direito ficou, em muitos casos, empedernido e injusto. Abrir o Direito aos sentidos e aos sentimentos, na senda, por exemplo, de um Luis Alberto Warat, sendo fascinante e iconoclasta, não é tarefa fácil, se for empresa prudente. Precisamente porque os juristas, mesmo muitos dos mais radicias, se habituaram a certos limites, e mesmo na semiótica dos seus lugares, dos seus modos e vestes reconheceríamos sombras avessas às paixões. As quais podem ser, porém, um vício oposto ao racionalismo. O desafio é reinventar a razão jurídica sem o normativismo …

While Effusive, "Conclusory" Is Still Quite Elusive: The Story Of A Word, Iqbal, And A Perplexing Lexical Inquiry Of Supreme Importance, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

The meaning of the word “conclusory” seems really, quite elusory. Conclusory is a widespread, common, and effusive word in the modern legal lexicon. Yet you would not necessarily know that by looking through many dictionaries. “Conclusory” has been a late comer to the pages of most dictionaries. Even today, not all dictionaries include the word “conclusory”, those that do have only recently adopted it, and the small number of available dictionary definitions seem to struggle to capture the word’s usage in the legal world. Yet the word “conclusory” has taken center stage in the procedural plays of civil litigation with …