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Full-Text Articles in Law

King V. Burwell And The Chevron Doctrine: Did The Court Invite Judicial Activism?, Matthew A. Melone Jul 2015

King V. Burwell And The Chevron Doctrine: Did The Court Invite Judicial Activism?, Matthew A. Melone

Matthew A. Melone

No abstract provided.


What The Constitution Means By “Duties, Imposts, And Excises”—And “Taxes” (Direct Or Otherwise), Robert G. Natelson Mar 2015

What The Constitution Means By “Duties, Imposts, And Excises”—And “Taxes” (Direct Or Otherwise), Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This Article recreates the original definitions of the U.S. Constitution’s terms “tax,” “direct tax,” “duty,” “impost,” “excise,” and “tonnage.” It draws on a greater range of Founding-Era sources than accessed heretofore, including eighteenth-century treatises, tax statutes, and literary source, and it corrects several errors made by courts and previous commentators. It concludes that the distinction between direct and indirect taxes was widely understood during the Founding Era, and that the term “direct tax” was more expansive than commonly realized. The Article identifies the reasons the Constitution required that direct taxes be apportioned among the states by population. It concludes that …


Crafting A Constitutional Marijuana Tax, Nima H. Mohebbi Feb 2015

Crafting A Constitutional Marijuana Tax, Nima H. Mohebbi

Nima H. Mohebbi

Marijuana legalization and decriminalization have become important policy issues. Twenty-three states have partially legalized marijuana (generally for medicinal purposes), and four – Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington – have legalized it for general adult recreational use. Given the likely hyper-growth of the cannabis market due to widespread legalization, states might enjoy budgetary windfalls from collecting marijuana taxes. Marijuana, however, remains a federally controlled substance, the sale or use of which is subject to substantial penalties. For the states, this presents a potential problem in collecting marijuana excise taxes. If an individual user in a state where marijuana is legal pays …


Definitions, Religion, And Free Exercise Guarantees, Mark Strasser Jan 2015

Definitions, Religion, And Free Exercise Guarantees, Mark Strasser

Mark Strasser

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. Non-religious practices do not receive those same protections, which makes the ability to distinguish between religious and non-religious practices important. Regrettably, members of the Court have been unable to agree about how to distinguish the religious from the non-religious—sometimes, the implicit criteria focus on the sincerity of the beliefs, sometimes the strength of the beliefs or the role that they play in an individual’s life, and sometimes the kind of beliefs. In short, the Court has virtually guaranteed an incoherent jurisprudence by sending contradictory signals with …


Taxes And Takings - And First Principles, George B. Hefferan Jr Jan 2015

Taxes And Takings - And First Principles, George B. Hefferan Jr

George B Hefferan Jr

No abstract provided.


Taxes And Takings - And First Principles, George B. Hefferan Jr Jan 2015

Taxes And Takings - And First Principles, George B. Hefferan Jr

George B Hefferan Jr

Public school property taxes are a verifiable violation of the takings clauses of the state and federal constitutions.


King V. Burwell And The Rise Of The Administrative State, Ronald D. Rotunda Dec 2014

King V. Burwell And The Rise Of The Administrative State, Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a complex law totaling nearly a thousand pages in length. The litigation now before the Supreme Court in King v. Burwell presents, on the surface, a simple issue of statutory interpretation. However, that surface has a very thin veneer. If the Court allows administrators carte blanche to change the very words of a statute, we will have come a long way towards governance by bureaucrats. Over the years, Congress has delegated many of its powers, but it has never delegated the power to raise taxes or spend tax subsidies in ways …