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Full-Text Articles in Law

New Frontiers In Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May, Caiphas Soyapi Apr 2017

New Frontiers In Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May, Caiphas Soyapi

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Introduction To Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May Apr 2017

Introduction To Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Sustainability And Global Environmental Constitutionalism, James R. May Apr 2017

Sustainability And Global Environmental Constitutionalism, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Judicial Handbook On Environmental Constitutionalism, James R. May, Erin Daly Dec 2016

Judicial Handbook On Environmental Constitutionalism, James R. May, Erin Daly

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Subnational Environmental Constitutionalism And Reform In New York State, James R. May Dec 2016

Subnational Environmental Constitutionalism And Reform In New York State, James R. May

James R. May

The State of New York’s constitution was perhaps the first in the world to embody environmental constitutionalism, most directly in what is known as its “Forever Wild” mandate from 1894. In contrast to many subnational environmental provisions, courts in New York have regularly enforced Forever Wild. New York’s Constitution also contains a remarkable mandate that every twenty years voters decide whether to hold elections for delegates to convene a convention to amend the state’s charter.

This article has three parts. Part I provides a primer to the field of subnational environmental constitutionalism. Part II explores the opportunities and challenges in …


Symposium On Global Environmental Constitutionalism: An Introduction And Overview, James R. May Dec 2014

Symposium On Global Environmental Constitutionalism: An Introduction And Overview, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Transcript Of The Federalist Society’S 2012 National Lawyers Convention: Environmental Law, Federalism, And The Energy Revolution: Can State And Federal Regulators Adapt To Innovations?, Jason B. Hutt, James R. May, Craig Segall, Joel R. Burcat, Timothy M. Tymkovich Dec 2012

Transcript Of The Federalist Society’S 2012 National Lawyers Convention: Environmental Law, Federalism, And The Energy Revolution: Can State And Federal Regulators Adapt To Innovations?, Jason B. Hutt, James R. May, Craig Segall, Joel R. Burcat, Timothy M. Tymkovich

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Civil Litigation As A Tool For Regulating Climate Change: An Introduction, James R. May Aug 2012

Civil Litigation As A Tool For Regulating Climate Change: An Introduction, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


American Electric Power Company, Inc. V. State Of Connecticut: Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Stuart Banner, James R. May Aug 2012

American Electric Power Company, Inc. V. State Of Connecticut: Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Stuart Banner, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Vindicating Environmental Rights: Constitutional Protection For Present & Future Generations, Erin Daly, James May Aug 2012

Vindicating Environmental Rights: Constitutional Protection For Present & Future Generations, Erin Daly, James May

James R. May

Our presentations will chronicle and assess the jurisprudential dimensions of constitutional environmental rights worldwide, encapsulating the preliminary findings of our book, Vindicating Environmental Rights: Constitutional Protection for Present & Future Generations, Cambridge, 2013), especially pertaining to provisions regarding rights to water, and procedural rights. The constitutions of about 160 nations address environmental matters in some fashion, some by committing to environmental stewardship or the rights of nature, others by recognizing a basic right to a quality environment and still others by ensuring a degree of public participation in environmental decision making. Most people on Earth live under constitutions that protect …


Civil Litigation As A Tool For Regulating Climate Change: An Introduction, James R. May Aug 2012

Civil Litigation As A Tool For Regulating Climate Change: An Introduction, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


American Electric Power Company, Inc. V. State Of Connecticut: Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Stuart Banner, James R. May Aug 2012

American Electric Power Company, Inc. V. State Of Connecticut: Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Stuart Banner, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Vindicating Environmental Rights: Constitutional Protection For Present & Future Generations, Erin Daly, James May Aug 2012

Vindicating Environmental Rights: Constitutional Protection For Present & Future Generations, Erin Daly, James May

James R. May

Our presentations will chronicle and assess the jurisprudential dimensions of constitutional environmental rights worldwide, encapsulating the preliminary findings of our book, Vindicating Environmental Rights: Constitutional Protection for Present & Future Generations, Cambridge, 2013), especially pertaining to provisions regarding rights to water, and procedural rights.

The constitutions of about 160 nations address environmental matters in some fashion, some by committing to environmental stewardship or the rights of nature, others by recognizing a basic right to a quality environment and still others by ensuring a degree of public participation in environmental decision making. Most people on Earth live under constitutions that protect …


Aep V. Connecticut And The Future Of The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May Sep 2011

Aep V. Connecticut And The Future Of The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Supreme Court Decides That Clean Air Act Displaces Federal Common Law Claims For Climate Change, James R. May Aug 2011

Supreme Court Decides That Clean Air Act Displaces Federal Common Law Claims For Climate Change, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Recent Developments At The Juncture Of The Political Question Doctrine And Climate Litigation Law, James R. May Mar 2011

Recent Developments At The Juncture Of The Political Question Doctrine And Climate Litigation Law, James R. May

James R. May

This short essay does three things. First, it provides a primer on the most recent case developments at the juncture of the climate litigation and the political question doctrine. Second, it hazards some discussion about how the Supreme Court might engage the political question issue in Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., Civ. Action No. 10-174. It ends with some concluding thoughts about the impact that litigation has on climate policy.


Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, American Electric Power Co. V. State Of Connecticut, No. 10-174, James R. May, Stuart Banner Feb 2011

Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, American Electric Power Co. V. State Of Connecticut, No. 10-174, James R. May, Stuart Banner

James R. May

No abstract provided.


U.S. Supreme Court Environmental Cases 2008-2009: A Year Like No Other, James R. May Sep 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Environmental Cases 2008-2009: A Year Like No Other, James R. May

James R. May

The author of this article says the last term of the U.S. Supreme Court was in many respects like no other in modern environmental law. During the 2008-2009 term, the Supreme Court ruled on novel and important questions concerning preliminary injunctions under the National Environmental Policy Act; cost-benefit analyses and permitting under the Clean Water Act; arranger and joint and several liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act; and environmental standing. At no turn, says the author, did the court favor the environment over other interests. He says the court even reached down to reverse decisions in …


Not At All: Environmental Sustainability In The Supreme Court, James R. May Dec 2008

Not At All: Environmental Sustainability In The Supreme Court, James R. May

James R. May

The principle of “sustainability” is soon to mark its 40th anniversary. It is a concept that has experienced both evolution and stasis. It has shaken the legal foundation, often engaged, recited, and even revered by policymakers, lawmakers, and academics worldwide. This essay assesses the extent to which sustainability registers on the scales of the United States Supreme Court, particularly during the tenure of Chief Justice John Roberts. None of the environmental cases decided thus far during the tenure of Chief Justice Roberts engage sustainability. The word “sustainability” does not appear to exist before the Court. It does not appear in …


Vindicating Fundamental Environmental Rights: Judicial Acceptance Of Constitutionally Entrenched Environmental Rights, James R. May, Erin Daly Dec 2008

Vindicating Fundamental Environmental Rights: Judicial Acceptance Of Constitutionally Entrenched Environmental Rights, James R. May, Erin Daly

James R. May

This article examines the extent to which constitutionally embedded fundamental environmental rights have met the promise of ensuring a right to an adequate environment. It explains these results and suggests ways to neutralize judicial resistance to these emerging constitutional rights. In Part II we explain the prevalence of constitutionally entrenched rights to a quality environment. In Part III, we provide examples of the extent to which courts have enforced these provisions. In Part IV, we examine institutional and structural factors, conceptual disjunctions, and pragmatic considerations that help to explain judicial receptivity to constitutionally entrenched environmental rights. And in Part V …


Constitutional Law And The Future Of Natural Resource Protection, James R. May Dec 2008

Constitutional Law And The Future Of Natural Resource Protection, James R. May

James R. May

This is a chapter of a recently published book that examines how constitutional law shapes natural resources law in the United States. Following a brief background, part I identifies and discusses the various constitutional law developments affecting the scope of Congress’s power to regulate the use of natural resources. It focuses primarily on the Commerce Clause (in conjunction with the corresponding case study) and the concomitant extrinsic limits on such authority, including principles of federalism and the Tenth Amendment, as well as the diminished Nondelegation doctrine. Part II does the same for state authority and the dormant Commerce and Supremacy …


The Intersection Of Constitutional Law And Environmental Litigation, James R. May Dec 2008

The Intersection Of Constitutional Law And Environmental Litigation, James R. May

James R. May

The U.S. Constitution propels the majority of environmental litigation. Thirty years ago, constitutional issues seldom arose in environmental law. Nowadays, nearly two in three federal environmental, energy and land use cases are litigated on constitutional grounds. Such cases implicate approximately twenty constitutional principles involving federalism, separation of powers and individual rights. Constitutional issues in environmental litigation are torn from the headlines, from climate change to natural resource extraction. Accordingly, this chapter aims to contextualize constitutional litigation for environmental lawyers in five ways. Part One provides a brief background to environmental litigation in the United States. Part Two addresses how constitutional …


The Role Of Science And Engineering In Water Regulation Over The Past 100 Years, James R. May, Patrick Clary Nov 2008

The Role Of Science And Engineering In Water Regulation Over The Past 100 Years, James R. May, Patrick Clary

James R. May

This article explores how scientific and engineering principles are inexorably linked to the regulation of water. Scientists and engineers first discovered the link between disease and water sources in the mid-19th century. Over the years, scientists and engineers have led the way to identifying water quality problems and their causes. These discoveries have directly contributed to the scope of water regulation in the United States and elsewhere. In addition, changes in water quality regulation have dictated the need for increasingly sophisticated water treatment technologies and engineers have been at the forefront of the development of these water control technologies. This …


Climate Change And The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May Jun 2008

Climate Change And The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Constitutional Climate Change In The Courts, James R. May Jan 2008

Constitutional Climate Change In The Courts, James R. May

James R. May

We have entered an interesting constitutional era, one in which a rising sea level will help to buoy a rising tide of climate litigation, the leading edge of which lies constitutional jurisprudence as applied to the political question doctrine, preemption, dormant commerce and compact clauses and standing. In 2007 most of it involves either state action (e.g., to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles or require climate friendly energy production), or state causes of action (e.g., public or private nuisance). In 2007, the trend was toward dismissing climate-tort cases as presenting political questions. Notably, in Mass. v. EPA, …


Climate Change, Constitutional Consignment, And The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May Dec 2007

Climate Change, Constitutional Consignment, And The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May

James R. May

Recently states and individuals have turned to federal common law causes of action to provide equitable and legal relief for climate change. Thus far, every federal court to consider these claims has held that they raise non-justiciable political questions consigned to the coordinate branches. These courts reason that federal courts lack jurisdiction over climate cases because climate change is textually committed elsewhere, there are no judicial standards to apply, and the elected branches have yet to render an initial policy determination about the subject. This article concludes that these courts either misapply or misapprehend the doctrine. It concedes that federal …


Of Happy Incidents, Climate, Federalism, And Preemption, James R. May Dec 2007

Of Happy Incidents, Climate, Federalism, And Preemption, James R. May

James R. May

This Article examines the shape of things to come in the overlapping realm of federalism and preemption. It questions whether and to what extent notions of federalism shape how federal law - or the absence of it - preempts states from taking measures to address climate change. A burgeoning body of legal scholarship mulls whether federal law ought to preempt state action. There is yet relatively spare legal scholarship on preemption reflecting recent developments in the courts and at EPA. Part One explains how federalism principles have shaped responses to climate change. It observes how allowing states to take steps …


Constitutional Law: 2008 Annual Report, James R. May Dec 2007

Constitutional Law: 2008 Annual Report, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Constitutional Law: 2007 Year In Review, James R. May Dec 2006

Constitutional Law: 2007 Year In Review, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Trends In Constitutional Environmental Law, James R. May Feb 2006

Trends In Constitutional Environmental Law, James R. May

James R. May

This article is about the growing field at the intersection of environmental and constitutional law. Thirty years ago, constitutional issues rarely arose in environmental law. Nowadays, nearly two in three federal environmental, energy and land use cases are decided on constitutional grounds invoking no fewer than 18 issues. These include the extent to which Congress can regulate activities that are either traditionally intrastate or not inherently economic in nature (the Commerce Clause), preempt state causes of action (Supremacy Clause), and prescribe state functions (10th Amendment) or subject them to federal actions (11th Amendment). Other issues include whether states can burden …