Law Commons^™

Unplugged - When Do Supreme Court Justices Need To Just Sit Down And Be Quiet?, Sonja R. West

Popular Media

This article looks at Supreme Court justices providing their opinions on various legal topics prior to resigning from the bench.

December 8, 2010: Uphold Proposition 8, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Uphold Proposition 8“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Supreme Court Of The United States, October Term 2010 Preview, Update: December 7, 2010, Georgetown University Law Center, Supreme Court Institute

Supreme Court Overviews

No abstract provided.

December 5, 2010: Seeking Common Ground: A Secular Statement, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Seeking Common Ground: A Secular Statement“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 7, 2010: How To Fix The Establishment Clause, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “How to Fix the Establishment Clause“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 3, 2010: Pat Tommey A Citizens United Victory, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Pat Tommey a Citizens United Victory“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

October 14, 2010: Why Is Snyder V. Westboro Baptist Church A Free Speech Case?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Why is Snyder v. Westboro Baptist Church a free speech case?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Oral Dissenting On The Supreme Court, Christopher W. Schmidt, Carolyn Shapiro

All Faculty Scholarship

In this Article we offer the first comprehensive evaluation of oral dissenting on the Supreme Court. We examine the practice in both historical and contemporary perspective, take stock of the emerging academic literature on the subject, and suggest a new framework for analysis of oral dissenting. Specifically, we put forth several claims. Contrary to the common assumption of scholarship and media coverage, oral dissents are nothing new. Oral dissenting has a long tradition, and its history provides valuable lessons for understanding the potential and limits of oral dissents today. Furthermore, not all oral dissents are alike. Dissenting Justices may have …

Iftikhar Chaudhry’S Options: Can The Courts Remake Pakistani Democracy?, Shubhankar Dam

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Justice John Paul Stevens - His Take On Takings, Alan C. Weinstein

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This commentary reviews and analyzes Justice John Paul Stevens's role in shaping the Court's views on the takings issue in land use regulation.

Aliens On The Bench: Lessons In Identity, Race And Politics From The First "Modern" Supreme Court, Lori A. Ringhand

Scholarly Works

Every time a Supreme Court vacancy is announced, the media and the legal academy snap to attention. Even the general public takes note; in contrast to most of the decisions issued by the Court, a majority of Americans are aware of and have opinions about the men and women who are nominated to sit on it. Moreover, public opinion about the nominee has a strong influence on a senator's vote for or against the candidate. If the confirmation hearing held before the Senate Judiciary Committee is largely an empty ritual, why do so many people seem so enthralled by it? …

Honest Services After Skilling: Judicial, Prosecutorial And Legislative Responses, Iris E. Bennett, Jessie K. Liu, Cynthia J. Robertson, Govind C. Persad

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

In Skilling v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court substantially narrowed the reach of the “honest services fraud” statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, by holding that it applies only to “bribery and kickback schemes,” not to “undisclosed self-dealing by a public official or private employee.” Skilling v. United States, 130 S. Ct. 2896 (2010). Two companion cases also were decided the same day. See Black v. United States, 130 S. Ct. 2963 (2010); Weyhrauch v. United States, 130 S. Ct. 2971 (2010). These decisions have major significance for federal fraud prosecutions.

Supreme Court Of The United States, October Term 2010 Preview, Georgetown University Law Center, Supreme Court Institute

Supreme Court Overviews

No abstract provided.

American Needle And The Boundaries Of The Firm In Antitrust Law, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

In American Needle the Supreme Court unanimously held that for the practice at issue the NFL should be treated as a “combination” of its teams rather than a single entity. However, the arrangement must be assessed under the rule of reason. The opinion, written by Justice Stevens, was almost certainly his last opinion for the Court in an antitrust case; Justice Stevens had been a dissenter in the Supreme Court’s Copperweld decision 25 years earlier, which held that a parent corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary constituted a single “firm” for antitrust purposes. The Sherman Act speaks to this issue …

July 8, 2010: Seeking “Common Ground”: A Secular Statement, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Seeking “Common Ground”: A Secular Statement“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

July 1, 2010: Justice Antonin Scalia Is Responsible For The Christian Legal Society Case, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Justice Antonin Scalia is Responsible for the Christian Legal Society Case“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Constitutional Interpretation? There's No App For That., Sonja R. West

Popular Media

The confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan begin Monday, and court watchers are steeling themselves for another round of the vacuous Q&A that has become the stuff of modern confirmation hearings.

What she will likely talk about—if she's anything like other recent nominees—is that, if confirmed, she promises to become Kagan the Robot. She will find 100 different ways to assure us that when deciding cases she will do nothing more than mechanically apply the law to the facts. And this is where Kagan needs to throw away the script. The absence of any dialogue on substantive law …

American Needle: The Sherman Act, Conspiracy, And Exclusion, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay, part of a colloquium in the CPI Antitrust Journal, explores the meaning and significance of the Supreme Court’s decision in American Needle v. NFL. The Supreme Court held that for purposes of the dispute at hand the NFL should be treated as a collaboration of its member teams rather than a single entity. The factors that the Supreme Court considered most important were, first, that the NFL’s member teams are individually owned profit making entities who compete with each other in at least some economic markets, such as that for the sale of apparel bearing NFL symbols. …

June 10, 2010: Whose Fault Is The Florida “Right To Witness” Law?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Whose Fault is the Florida “Right to Witness” Law?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

June 6, 2010: Former Justice David Souter’S Harvard Commencement Speech, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Former Justice David Souter’s Harvard Commencement Speech“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

June 3, 2010: American Religious Democracy, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “American Religious Democracy“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

May 1, 2010: The Cross In The Desert Case, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Cross in the desert case“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The “New” Presumption Against Preemption, Mary J. Davis

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Is there or isn't there a “presumption against preemption”? The Supreme Court continues to mention it, but then does, or does not, apply it in a way that helps us understand what it is. This Article explores the Court's preemption opinions in the last several decades, particularly its most recent pronouncements, and concludes that, indeed, there is a presumption against preemption. It is a "new" presumption in the sense that it is born of the Court's active preemption docket in the last two decades, which has more narrowly defined both express and implied preemption analysis. The "new" presumption is stronger …

April 25, 2010: National Day Of Prayer Constitutional, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “National Day of Prayer Constitutional“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Unsung Empathy Of Justice Stevens, Sonja R. West, Dahlia Lithwick

Popular Media

Justice John Paul Stevens' announcement of his retirement this morning has his many admirers at a loss: Liberals are already bemoaning the absence of a true liberal leader at the court—a man who could still manage to "count to five" to forge a majority on the sometimes fractious center-left of the court.

What Is The Sound Of A Corporation Speaking? “Just Another Voice,” According To The Supreme Court, Linda L. Berger

Scholarly Works

When the Supreme Court overrules itself, and reaches a result different from the conclusions of Congress, the Executive Branch, and more than 20 state legislatures, the Court has the burden of persuasion. Did the five justices in the majority in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission meet that burden? The author argues that the answer is no, setting aside the question of whether the majority reached the "right" conclusion about the constitutionality of limiting corporate spending in election campaigns. In this essay, the author explains her answer and addresses a related question: did the Citizens United majority observe the rules …

Interview With Patrick Leahy By Brien Williams, Patrick J. Leahy

George J. Mitchell Oral History Project

Biographical Note
Patrick Joseph Leahy was born in Montpelier, Vermont, on March 31, 1940. He was graduated from Saint Michael’s College in 1961 and Georgetown Law in 1964. Beginning in 1966, he was elected to four consecutive terms as Vermont state’s attorney in Chittenden County. At the age of 34, he became the youngest U.S. senator ever elected by Vermont, and he is the only elected Democrat from Vermont ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. During the 1980s, he was vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. At …

March 12, 2010: “In God We Trust” Upheld By The Ninth Circuit, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ “In God We Trust” Upheld by the Ninth Circuit“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Astrachan And Easton: Fight Wikileaks Case In Court, Not In Cyberspace, James B. Astrachan, Eric Easton

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court Of The United States, October Term 2009 Preview, Update: February 22, 2010, Georgetown University Law Center, Supreme Court Institute

Supreme Court Overviews

No abstract provided.