Law Commons^™

Politics As Usual: Black Stereotypes And President Obama's Racialization, Lynnette Jenkins

Lynnette R Jenkins

President Barack Obama attempted to transcend race by running a colorblind campaign and administration. Nevertheless, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama have been racialized by media as the result of stereotyping and white supremacy. This paper will demonstrate that racism is not a relic of the past by drawing parallels between previous racist imagery and current media depictions of Barack and Michelle Obama.

An Empirical Analysis Of Conservative, Liberal, And Other "Biases" In The United States Courts Of Appeals For The Eighth & Ninth Circuits, Robert E. Steinbuch

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Judicial Efficacy – Providing Justice In State Courts In The Midst Of A Budget Crisis, Mark Gould

Mark Gould

No abstract provided.

The Reality Of Eu-Conformity Review In France, Juscelino F. Colares

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

French High Courts embraced review of national legislation for conformity with EU law in different stages and following distinct approaches to EU law supremacy. This article tests whether adherence to different views on EU law supremacy has resulted in different levels of EU directive enforcement by the French High Courts. After introducing the complex French systems of statutory, treaty and constitutional review, this study explains how EU-conformity review emerged among these systems and provides an empirical analysis refuting the anecdotal view that different EU supremacy theories produce substantial differences in conformity adjudication outcomes. These Courts' uniformly high rates of EU …

News Value, Islamophobia, Or The First Amendment, Why And How The Philadelphia Inquirer Published The Danish Cartoons, Robert Kahn

Robert Kahn

The typical framing of the United States in the Danish cartoon controversy is driven by the refusal of most papers to republish the cartoons. On this view, American journalists, unlike their European counterparts, focused narrowly on the cartoons' "news value" which--even at the papers that published the cartoons--ruled out the anti-Muslim stereotypes that accompanied the running of the cartoons in Denmark and Europe.

This paper puts this frame to the test by looking at the debate that unfolded after the Philadelphia Inquirer ran the turban cartoon. While editor Amanda Bennett defended her decision as "what newspapers do," a detailed review …

July 19, 2012: Confronting Capitalism, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

"Systemic Poverty As A Cause Of Recessions", Robert Ashford

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that the failure to address and ameliorate systemic poverty is a major cause of recessions. Recessions occur (and sub-optimal employment and growth persist) when a critical mass of market participants come to believe that the distribution of future earning capacity is not sufficient to purchase what can be produced despite the physical and technological capacity to employ available labor and capital to produce more over the same period even at lower unit cost. The essence of systemic poverty is widespread inadequate earning capacity. In recessionary periods, with rising unemployment, the problem of inadequate earning capacity (which perennially …

Smart Growth At Century’S End: The State Of The States, Patricia E. Salkin

Patricia E. Salkin

No abstract provided.

July 8, 2012: If The Higgs Boson Particle Affected Capitalism, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ If the Higgs Boson Particle Affected Capitalism“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

July 1, 2012: The Significance Of The Obamacare Decision, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Significance of the Obamacare Decision“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

You Say You Want A Revolution? [Review Of The Book The Other Side Of The Sixties: Young Americans For Freedom And The Rise Of Conservative Politics], Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] Was the New Left a premature revolution, the fruits of which must await a future set of proper conditions to develop? Or was it more a victim of a giant government conspiracy that crushed a vibrant and growing oppositional tendency? Adherents of these and similar interpretations thus can explain the demise of the New Left while protecting its image as a tribune of a people in inevitable, if slow, political motion. But a perspective less protective of the New Left might reveal more. Perhaps treatments of that era have never fully captured either the complex turnings of America's political …

In The Jungle Of Cities [Review Of The Book Harold Washington And The Neighborhoods: Progressive City Reform In Chicago, 1983-1987], Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] At first glance such a spatial transformation of work may seem positive, as indeed it was for the largely white work force that left the city and staffed these new positions. But left behind geographically, economically, and socially were the largely black (and to a lesser extent, Mexican) working-class residents. It was at this juncture, with jobs disappearing and the urban social structure fragmented, that black Chicago, symbolized in the person of Harold Washington, finally assumed political power. In Harold Washington and the Neighborhoods, editors Pierre Clavel and Wim Wiewel have collected a group of essays that examine the …

The Plenary Power Immigration Doctrine: The Post 9/11 Hijacking Of State Legislatures, Geordan S. Kushner

Geordan S Kushner

The Supreme Court has determined Congress’ authority over immigration policy to be one of its plenary powers. Classifying immigration as a plenary power effectively precludes any external involvement and/or interference from any other entity. From the early 1900s and into the 21st Century, Congressional plenary authority over immigration had come to be expected and desired in the United States. However, one event changed this, essentially rendering that power over immigration unconstitutional when taken in light of other doctrines the Court has iterated.

The event that brought about this transformation was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The attacks transformed …

Obamacare And Federalism's Tug Of War Within, Erin Ryan

Erin Ryan

This month, the Supreme Court will decide what some believe will be among the most important cases in the history of the institution. In the “Obamacare” cases, the Court considers whether the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) exceeds the boundaries of federal authority under the various provisions of the Constitution that establish the relationship between local and national governance. Its response will determine the fate of Congress’s efforts to grapple with the nation’s health care crisis, and perhaps other legislative responses to wicked regulatory problems like climate governance or education policy. Whichever way the gavel falls, the decisions will likely impact …

June 21, 2012: The Misuse Of Religious Exemptions, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

America Reborn? Conservatives, Liberals, And American Political Culture Since 1945, Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] From the perspective of the early twenty‑first century, we can chide the good professor for not carefully considering the consequences of what he wished for half a century ago. For it is clear that the force of this conservative movement in America was in fact “stronger than most of us [knew]” or could have imagined in 1950, or, indeed, in 1968. This conservative “impulse”, those “irritable mental gestures”, has largely restructured American political thinking with a force and popular approval that remains stunning to consider. The growth of the conservative movement since 1945 was also accompanied by the slow …

Faith, Politics, And American Culture [Review Of The Books Letter To A Christian Nation, Pity And Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom, Faith And Politics: How The “Moral Values” Debate Divides America And How To Move Forward Together, The Compassionate Community: Ten Values To Unite America, Righteous: Dispatches From The Evangelical Youth Movement, And Believers: A Journey Into Evangelical America], Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] In January 2004, before a black church congregation in New Orleans, President George W. Bush commemorated Martin Luther King's birthday with a spirited promotion of his faith-based initiatives. Appropriating the slain Civil Rights leader's profession of faith, Bush proclaimed his ultimate purpose was to change "America one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time." He emphasized voluntary action by citizens (four times he extolled them as "the social entrepreneurs") and he consistency denigrated the role of government but for one critical function: providing "billions of dollars" to faith-based social-service groups. Proclaiming the values of the Christian Bible as …

June 10, 2012: Cut Off From Blame And Punishment, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Cut Off from Blame and Punishment“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

China's Engagement With The Security Council, Christopher James Mccabe Holland

Christopher J M Holland

China’s engagement with the UN Security Council has received close attention since its veto of UN action in Syria. Some commentators have argued that this veto signals the beginning of a more aggressive and independent China, and is an indication of its resilience to western and foreign pressure. However, this paper argues that the significance of China’s resistance to UN action should not be overstated.

The proposed intervention in Syria, like in Libya, was justified in legal terms on the basis of the doctrine of the “responsibility to protect” (R2P). Since the genesis of this doctrine at the turn of …

June 2, 2012: Massachusetts V. United States Department Of Health And Human Services, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ MASSACHUSETTS v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Judicial Line-Drawing And The Broader Culture: The Case Of Politics And Entertainment, R. George Wright

San Diego Law Review

This article puts in a broader legal and cultural context and critically evaluates Justice Scalia's reluctance to distinguish politics from entertainment or, more precisely, political speech from entertainment speech. Some may think of Justice Scalia's reluctance as the embodiment of judicial modesty or realistic practical wisdom. Others may think of it as an unnecessary expression of relativism or subjectivism that is ominous in its implications. Either way, whether we can appropriately distinguish between entertainment speech and political speech, and then apply appropriately different free speech standards in each case, says much about our status and priorities as a culture. Placing …

May 30, 2012: Seeger—An Extraordinary Case, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Seeger—an Extraordinary Case“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

May 27, 2012: Happy Memorial Day, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

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

Can Super-Committees Cure Congressional Gridlock?, Sean J. Wright

Sean J Wright

No abstract provided.

May 21, 2012: Raimon Panikkar On Church And State, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Raimon Panikkar on Church and State“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Why Harlan Fiske Stone (Also) Matters, Eric H. Schepard

Eric H Schepard

Harlan Fiske Stone has been largely overlooked in the recent legal literature even though his legacy should influence how we resolve contemporary legal problems. This article examines Stone’s archived correspondence, his speeches and opinions, and numerous secondary sources to demonstrate why he is more important now than at any time since his death in 1946. As Attorney General from 1924-25, Stone’s decision to prohibit the Bureau of Investigation (BI, today’s FBI) from spying on domestic radicals established a framework that should guide the troublesome relationship between domestic intelligence and law enforcement that reemerged after September 11, 2001. As an Associate …

May 15, 2012: Religion At Occupy Wall Street, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Religion at Occupy Wall Street“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Rules Of Engagement, David D. Butler

David D. Butler

This brief article contains 1,300 words. It is well worth your time to read it in full.

Many Voices, David D. Butler

David D. Butler

This brief article is 1,500 words, including its two intriguing footnotes. Read it in its entirety. Read it before the 2012 presidential election.

Explaining The Rise Of State And Local Immigration Laws, Pratheepan Gulasekaram

Pratheepan Gulasekaram

This Article provides a systematic empirical investigation of the genesis of state and local immigration regulations, discrediting the popular notion that they are caused by uneven demographic pressures across the country. Instead, we find systematic evidence for the significance of political contexts such as the strength of political parties in states and localities. The story we tell in this paper is both political and legal: understanding immigration politics uncovers vital truths about the recent rise of subnational involvement in a policy arena courts and commentators have traditionally ascribed to the federal government. This recognition of the political dynamics of immigration …