Law Commons^™

The Supreme Court Review Act: Fast-Tracking The Interbranch Dialogue And Destabilizing The Filibuster, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

JCL Online

This Essay presents an analysis of the Supreme Court Review Act, a bill that was recently introduced in Congress. The Act would create a streamlined legislative process for bills responding to new Supreme Court decisions that interpret federal statutes or restrict constitutional rights. By facilitating legislative responses to controversial cases, the Act would promote the “dialogue” that commentators and the courts themselves have used as a model for interbranch relations. The Essay describes how the proposed Supreme Court Review Act would work, discusses some of its benefits, addresses its constitutionality, and raises some questions about its implementation and effects.

Duty To Contract: Free Labor Ideology And Contractual Freedom In The Postbellum South, 1865-1867, Janice Y. Jiang

JCL Online

This essay explores the ways in which the right to contract interacted with the free labor ideology at this pivotal moment in American legal history. It examines this relationship by looking at the perspectives of four groups of historical actors: grassroots actors such as anti-slavery activists and ordinary laborers, legislatures of the former Confederate states, agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau, and federal lawmakers in the 39th Congress. This essay argues that, although Congress legislated some of the key grassroots demands on a system of free labor and the right to contract through constitutional amendments and federal statutes, enforcement by the …

Compelled Climate Speech, Michael Zschokke

JCL Online

Climate change threatens nearly every corner of human life and may structurally change the global financial system. Investors increasingly demand information about how climate change may impact their investments. In response, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a proposed rule that would require registered companies to disclose certain climate-related information in their registration statements and annual reports. But some critics argue that this proposed rule is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s current doctrine on compelled and commercial speech.

This doctrine misunderstands the First Amendment. When corporations engage in speech that possesses commercial and non-commercial characteristics, the Court’s binary, categorical …