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Full-Text Articles in Law
Expressive Harms, "Bizarre Districts," And Voting Rights: Evaluating Election-District Appearances After Shaw V. Reno, Richard H. Pildes, Richard G. Niemi
Expressive Harms, "Bizarre Districts," And Voting Rights: Evaluating Election-District Appearances After Shaw V. Reno, Richard H. Pildes, Richard G. Niemi
Michigan Law Review
This article attempts to define the constitutional principles that characterize Shaw and to suggest how those principles might be applied in a consistent, meaningful way. Part I, in which we argue that Shaw must be understood to rest on a distinctive conception of the kinds of harms against which the Constitution protects, is the theoretical heart of the article. We call these expressive harms, as opposed to more familiar, material harms. In Part II, we briefly survey the history of previous, largely unsuccessful, efforts in other legal contexts to give principled content to these kinds of harms in redistricting. …
Race And Redistricting: Drawing Constitutional Lines After Shaw V. Reno, T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Samuel Isaacharoff
Race And Redistricting: Drawing Constitutional Lines After Shaw V. Reno, T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Samuel Isaacharoff
Michigan Law Review
Shaw is no doubt a major opinion that attempts to define limits on the use of racial or ethnic classifications in electoral redistricting. The main thrust of this article is to assess the critical question of whether Shaw renders unconstitutional the type of race-conscious realignment of electoral configurations that have given meaning to the voting rights reforms of the past two decades. In making this assessment, we try to ascertain exactly how the Court has limited the use of race-conscious districting, and we try to determine whether there is any jurisprudential coherence to the Court's latest confrontation with the law …
Ugly: An Inquiry Into The Problem Of Racial Gerrymandering Under The Voting Rights Act, Daniel D. Polsby, Robert D. Popper
Ugly: An Inquiry Into The Problem Of Racial Gerrymandering Under The Voting Rights Act, Daniel D. Polsby, Robert D. Popper
Michigan Law Review
In the discussion that follows, we focus on the case of congressional districting rather than on districting in general. Although we proceed in this manner for the sake of clarity, it is also true that no single, all-purpose normative theory of electoral mechanics will cover every case of democratic representation, from county commissions to mosquito control districts to sovereign legislatures. We do not claim that one can generalize our argument to every sort of election to which the VRA might apply. Yet we think our argument does approximate a theory of general application.
The Constitution, The Legislature, And Unfair Surprise: Toward A Reliance-Based Approach To The Contract Clause, Robert A. Graham
The Constitution, The Legislature, And Unfair Surprise: Toward A Reliance-Based Approach To The Contract Clause, Robert A. Graham
Michigan Law Review
This Note argues that the Court should return to a reliance-based approach to Contract Clause challenges, fashioned loosely along the same lines as the HRID. Although it does not advocate that the Court revivify the rules created by the early decisions, the Note proposes that the Court look to the private parties' expectations and, more specifically, to the reasonableness of those expectations in deciding the clause's applicability to a particular case. Part I provides a brief history of the Contract Clause and its development. This Part follows the clause from the Constitutional Convention through the 1980s to illustrate the Court's …
Of Citizen Suits And Citizen Sunstein, Harold J. Krent, Ethan G. Shenkman
Of Citizen Suits And Citizen Sunstein, Harold J. Krent, Ethan G. Shenkman
Michigan Law Review
After briefly summarizing Lujan and addressing Sunstein's critique, we explore the concept of accountability underlying the creation of a single executive in Article II. We then apply our theory of the unitary executive to several examples of broad grants of statutory standing, concluding that Congress can confer standing on private citizens only if it specifically articulates and individuates the interests whose violation gives rise to a cognizable case. Although we agree with Sunstein's view that broad grants of statutory standing do not necessarily trench upon constitutional values, we ultimately side with Justice Scalia in concluding that universal citizen standing, as …
If The Eye Offend Thee, Turn Off The Color, John Harrison
If The Eye Offend Thee, Turn Off The Color, John Harrison
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Color-Blind Constitution by Andrew Kull
What Is A Postmodern Constitutionalism?, J. M. Balkin
What Is A Postmodern Constitutionalism?, J. M. Balkin
Michigan Law Review
I begin with a puzzle. It must certainly strike one as odd that the subject of postmodern constitutional law arises at a time when the actual arbiters of the Constitution - the federal judiciary and in particular the Supreme Court of the United States - appear to be more conservative than they have been for many years, and indeed, are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Postmodernism is often associated with what is new, innovative, and on the cutting edge of cultural development. Yet if we were to define the elements of a postmodern constitutional culture, it would …
The Supreme Court As Constitutional Interpreter: Chronology Without History, Herbert Hovenkamp
The Supreme Court As Constitutional Interpreter: Chronology Without History, Herbert Hovenkamp
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Constitution in the Supreme Court: The Second Century, 1888-1986 by David P. Currie
The Failed Discourse Of State Constitutionalism, James A. Gardner
The Failed Discourse Of State Constitutionalism, James A. Gardner
Michigan Law Review
In this article, I approach these questions in two steps. First, I examine the status of state constitutional law as it is practiced today. I conclude that, contrary to the claims of New Federalism, state constitutional law today is a vast wasteland of confusing, conflicting, and essentially unintelligible pronouncements. I argue that the fundamental defect responsible for this state of affairs is the failure of state courts to develop a coherent discourse of state constitutional law that is, a language in which it is possible for participants in the legal system to make intelligible claims about the meaning of state …
The Constitution As Mirror: Tribe's Constitutional Choices, Richard A. Posner
The Constitution As Mirror: Tribe's Constitutional Choices, Richard A. Posner
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Constitutional Choices by Laurence H. Tribe
Hyperspace, Girardeau A. Spann
Hyperspace, Girardeau A. Spann
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Supreme Court and Constitutional Democracy by John Agresto
The Formulaic Constitution, Robert F. Nagel
The Formulaic Constitution, Robert F. Nagel
Michigan Law Review
This essay explores the ways in which the formulaic style is different from other, older forms of constitutional doctrine. It argues that the modern style affects the content that the Court finds in the Constitution and that it illuminates the current interpretive functions of the judiciary. Perhaps most importantly, the formulaic style establishes an identifiable relationship between the Court and the public and thus constrains how the Court's version of the Constitution bears upon the larger political culture.
The Rise Of The Supreme Court Reporter: An Institutional Perspective On Marshall Court Ascendancy, Craig Joyce
The Rise Of The Supreme Court Reporter: An Institutional Perspective On Marshall Court Ascendancy, Craig Joyce
Michigan Law Review
This Article will first explore the antecedents to, and beginnings of, the reporter system under Alexander J. Dallas and William Cranch. Next, the Article will examine the transformation of the system under the Court's first official Reporter, the scholarly Henry Wheaton. Finally, the Article will recount the struggle between Wheaton and his more practical successor, Richard Peters, Jr., that culminated in 1834 in the Court's declaration that its decisions are the property of the people of the United States, and not of the Court's Reporters.
Backing Off Bivens And The Ramifications Of This Retreat For The Vindication Of First Amendment Rights, Joan Steinman
Backing Off Bivens And The Ramifications Of This Retreat For The Vindication Of First Amendment Rights, Joan Steinman
Michigan Law Review
In Part I of this Article, Chappell and Bush are analyzed against the backdrop of the preceding Bivens cases. The analysis explains how these cases presented situations that were similar to one another but unlike any the Supreme Court previously had faced in Bivens cases. It demonstrates how the Court departed from the line of analysis that its previous Bivens cases had established, in a way that makes it more difficult for at least some plaintiffs seeking vindication of their constitutional rights to succeed in having a money damage remedy implied directly under the Constitution. The Article then argues that …
Berger's Defense Of The Death Penalty: How Not To Read The Constitution, Hugo Adam Bedau
Berger's Defense Of The Death Penalty: How Not To Read The Constitution, Hugo Adam Bedau
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Death Penalties: The Supreme Court's Obstacle Course by Raoul Berger
Equity And The Constitution, Michigan Law Review
Equity And The Constitution, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Equity and the Constitution by Gary L. McDowell
The Death Penalty In America, Michigan Law Review
The Death Penalty In America, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Death Penalty in America (Third Edition) by Hugo Adam Bedau
Economic Liberties And The Constitution, Michigan Law Review
Economic Liberties And The Constitution, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
A Review of Economic Liberties and the Constitution by Bernard H. Siegan
State Control Over The Reclamation Waterhole: Reality Or Mirage, Michigan Law Review
State Control Over The Reclamation Waterhole: Reality Or Mirage, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Note assesses how much state law section 8 saves from preemption. Section I reviews the interplay of state and federal water law in the West. It begins with a brief description of appropriation, the system of water rights found in the Western states, outlines the Reclamation Act of 1902, and then traces the Supreme Court's evolving construction of the Act. It culminates in a discussion of California v. United States, the Court's latest gloss on section 8. Section II expands the analysis of the California decision, integrating it with traditional preemption doctrine. It shows that section 8 respects …
Untangling The Strands Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Ira C. Lupu
Untangling The Strands Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Ira C. Lupu
Michigan Law Review
This Article explores such trends in the context of several recent cases and in the broader context of established patterns of constitutional law. Section II shows how the different strains of fourteenth amendment activism over the past century have tangled the strands of the fourteenth amendment in a thick, almost impenetrable knot. Section ill studies the tangle's reflection in three cases raising fundamental rights problems - Maher v. Roe, Moore v. City of East Cleveland, and Zablocki v. Redhail. Finally, Section N offers what Sections II and III suggest is missing from fourteenth amendment case law- a theory, abstract …
State Taxation And The Supreme Court: Toward A More Unified Approach To Constitutional Adjudication?, Walter Hellerstein
State Taxation And The Supreme Court: Toward A More Unified Approach To Constitutional Adjudication?, Walter Hellerstein
Michigan Law Review
The first section of this Article examines three recent cases, each addressed to a different constitutional limitation on the scope of state tax power, that may be read as signifying a new approach: Michelin Tire Corp. v. Wages, which concerned the import-export clause; United States v. County of Fresno, which concerned the supremacy clause; and Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, which concerned the commerce clause. Section II considers the implications of these decisions and explores -the possibility that they share an underlying doctrinal unity.
Immunity Under The Speech Or Debate Clause For Republican And From Questioning About Sources, Michigan Law Review
Immunity Under The Speech Or Debate Clause For Republican And From Questioning About Sources, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Gravel v. United States, which arose out of Senator Mike Gravel's attempt to publicize the Pentagon Papers, concerned the scope of the immunity conferred upon a legislator and his aide under article I, section 6, of the United States Constitution. This provision, commonly called the "speech or debate clause," provides that "for any Speech or Debate in either House, [United States Senators or Representatives] shall not be questioned in any other Place." Gravel is one of the few Supreme Court interpretations of this clause.
Judicial Supremacy Re-Examined: A Proposed Alternative, G. Sidney Buchanan
Judicial Supremacy Re-Examined: A Proposed Alternative, G. Sidney Buchanan
Michigan Law Review
A citizen critic recently expressed to me his bitter opposition to the Warren Court's decisions on school prayer and school desegregation. If this critic were elected governor of a state or placed in some other position of governmental authority, he would almost certainly use his power to block public school desegregation and to encourage prayer reading in the public schools. Conceding that our critic would be acting controversially in so using his power, would he be acting unconstitutionally? This is the question which this Article will attempt to answer. More generally, this Article will consider the extent to which a …
Schwartz: The Supreme Court: Constitutional Revolution In Retrospect, Paul G. Kauper
Schwartz: The Supreme Court: Constitutional Revolution In Retrospect, Paul G. Kauper
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Supreme Court: Constitutional Revolution in Retrospect. By Bernard Schwartz.
Jackson: The Supreme Court In The American System Of Government, Howard M. Downs S.Ed.
Jackson: The Supreme Court In The American System Of Government, Howard M. Downs S.Ed.
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Supreme Court in the American System of Government. By Robert H. Jackson
Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell
Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell
Michigan Law Review
While the Constitution does not in terms forbid the United States, as it forbids the states, to pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts, the principle has become established that contracts made by the United States may create rights of which individuals may not be divested. This principle is attached to the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against depriving any person of property without due process of law. In applying this principle, United States v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co.2 held that a grant of land to a railroad to induce its construction is a contract, and that provisions for substituting indemnity …
Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell
Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell
Michigan Law Review
The difficulty of classifying cases on the police power has not evaporated since the review of decisions for the preceding year. The headings there suggested are used here. Classification on the basis of the objects of the legislation appears too precarious to be attempted with any confidence. It seems safer to work along the line of the subject matters with which the legislation deals. Certain topics are species of a wider genus, and thus the same case may be put in two or more groups. Readers who are dissatisfied with the classification adopted may be assured of the sympathy of …
Ex Post Facto In The Constitution, Oliver P. Field
Ex Post Facto In The Constitution, Oliver P. Field
Michigan Law Review
Any study of the ex post facto clauses of the Constitution NwYh icshtu ddyid onf ott hceo mexm epnocset fwaicthto ac lcaousnessid eorfa titohne oCfo nCstaitludteiro nv'. Bull2 would not conform to good practice. The text writers and the commentators uniformly begin their treatment of ex post facto laws by citing it as the leading case, and setting forth its doctrine. There is singular agreement as to the correctness of the holding of the case.3 The statement given by Cooley is typical: "At an early day it was settled by authoritative decision, in opposition to what might seem the more …
Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell
Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell
Michigan Law Review
In a proceeding brought by the United States to restrain the construction of a dam in a stream alleged to be a "navigable river, or other navigable water of the United States," Economy Light & Power Co. v. United States2 held that "a river having actual navigable capacity in its natural state and capable of carrying commerce among the states is within the power of Congress to preserve for future transportation, even though it be not at present used for such commerce, and be incapable of such use according to present methods, either by reason of changed conditions or because …
Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell
Supreme Court's Construction Of The Federal Constitution In 1920-1921, Thomas Reed Powell
Michigan Law Review
This review of Supreme Court decisions on constitutional law during the October Term of 1920 follows the plan of its predecessors.' Its aim is the modest one of exposing the precise points decided and the precise or unprecise reasons given in support of the results reached. A valiant effort is made to refrain from criticism or from adding anything to the contributions of the judges. In the footnotes are assembled references to discussions of the cases reviewed in the text and of other issues of constitutional law considered in recognized law journals from October, 1920, to October, 1921. No effort …