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Articles 1 - 30 of 58
Full-Text Articles in Law
Charles Reich, New Dealer, John Q. Barrett
Charles Reich, New Dealer, John Q. Barrett
Faculty Publications
(Excerpt)
My encounters with Charles Reich began long before I had any personal contact with him. I read his 1970 bestseller The Greening of America late in that decade, when I was in high school. From then on, I always owned a copy of that book, until it would disappear in a move or on "loan" to some friend.
Luckily so many copies of Greening are in print that I easily would find it anew in used bookstores. So, I often restocked, reread in the book, and got to feel afresh the lift of Reich's spirit and his words.
Consider, …
The Emperor’S New Clothes: The Variety Of Stakeholders In Climate Change Regulation Assuming The Mantle Of Federal And International Authority, Linda A. Malone
The Emperor’S New Clothes: The Variety Of Stakeholders In Climate Change Regulation Assuming The Mantle Of Federal And International Authority, Linda A. Malone
Faculty Publications
In June 2017, President Donald Trump announced the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord. President Trump believes the United States should be more focused on its economic wellbeing than on environmental concerns. Since being elected, President Trump has, with the help of the Environmental Protection Agency, been rolling back, or attempting to roll back, major climate change regulations. However, this Article points out that due to factors such as international law, the United States Constitution, and the Administrative Procedure Act, one cannotjust simply withdraw from an international agreement, such as the Paris Accord, or take back …
Congress, The Courts, And Party Polarization: Why Congress Rarely Checks The President And Why The Courts Should Not Take Congress’S Place, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Foreign Emoluments Clause, Erik M. Jensen
The Foreign Emoluments Clause, Erik M. Jensen
Faculty Publications
Because of the foreign business dealings of President Donald Trump and his family, interpreting the Foreign Emoluments Clause has become a nearly fulltime job for political pundits, with stories about the clause appearing in every conceivable media outlet. The clause provides that “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States] shall, without the Consent of Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” If the president is benefitting economically from business dealings with foreign governments (or organizations that might be treated as agencies …
Understanding The Department Of Defense's Policy Regarding Transgender Servicemembers, A. Benjamin Spencer
Understanding The Department Of Defense's Policy Regarding Transgender Servicemembers, A. Benjamin Spencer
Faculty Publications
In June 2016, the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) issued Directive-type Memorandum (DTM) 16-005, "Military Service of Transgender Service Members." This DTM announced that, based on the premise that the "military should be open to all who can meet the rigorous standards for military service and readiness," "transgender individuals shall be allowed to serve in the military." The attachment to the memo declared that servicemembers could no longer be "involuntarily separated, discharged or denied reenlistment or continuation of service, solely on the basis of their gender identity." The core purpose of the new policy was to ensure that transgender persons would …
Herbert Hoover And The Constitution, John Q. Barrett
Herbert Hoover And The Constitution, John Q. Barrett
Faculty Publications
Herbert Clark Hoover, first an international businessman, a global hero during World War I, and then a cabinet officer under Presidents Harding and Coolidge, was elected president in 1928. The next year, as President Hoover embarked on his progressive agenda for the country, the Roaring Twenties ended, crashingly, in the Great Depression. Hoover responded inadequately, constrained more by his own beliefs in volunteerism than by constitutional limits on his powers. His failure to relieve public suffering overshadowed his presidential accomplishments, including innovative government programs and three Supreme Court appointments.
Standing Outside Article Iii, Tara Leigh Grove
Standing Outside Article Iii, Tara Leigh Grove
Faculty Publications
The U.S. Supreme Court has insisted that standing doctrine is a “bedrock” requirement only of Article III. Accordingly, both jurists and scholars have assumed that the standing of the executive branch and the legislature, like that of other parties, depends solely on Article III. But I argue that these commentators have overlooked a basic constitutional principle: federal institutions must have affirmative authority for their actions, including the power to bring suit or appeal in federal court. Article III defines the federal “judicial Power” and does not purport to confer any authority on the executive branch or the legislature. Executive and …
The Transformative Twelfth Amendment, Joshua D. Hawley
The Transformative Twelfth Amendment, Joshua D. Hawley
Faculty Publications
This paper argues that the Twelfth Amendment represents far more than a mechanical adjustment of the electoral college. Rather, it is the constitutional text that gives us the political presidency that we know today. The Twelfth Amendment worked a major structural change in the relationship between the legislative and executive branches and for that reason bears directly on the debate over the unitary executive and the meaning of “executive power.” Specifically, presidential removal power is best justified not by the original Article II, but by the constitutional structure the Twelfth Amendment created. And the scope and definition of executive power …
Congress's (Limited) Power To Represent Itself In Court, Tara Leigh Grove, Neal Devins
Congress's (Limited) Power To Represent Itself In Court, Tara Leigh Grove, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
Scholars and jurists have long assumed that, when the executive branch declines to defend a federal statute, Congress may intervene in federal court to defend the law. When invalidating the Defense of Marriage Act, for example, no Supreme Court Justice challenged the authority of the House of Representatives to defend federal laws in at least some circumstances. At the same time, in recent litigation over the Fast and Furious gun-running case, the Department of Justice asserted that the House could not go to court to enforce a subpoena against the executive. In this Article, we seek to challenge both claims. …
The Indefensible Duty To Defend, Neal Devins, Saikrishna B. Prakash
The Indefensible Duty To Defend, Neal Devins, Saikrishna B. Prakash
Faculty Publications
Modern Justice Department opinions insist that the executive branch must enforce and defend laws. In the first article to systematically examine Department of Justice refusals to defend, we make four points. First, the duties to enforce and defend lack any sound basis in the Constitution. Hence, while President Obama is right to refuse to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, he is wrong to continue to enforce a law he believes is unconstitutional. Second, rather than being grounded in the Constitution, the duties are better explained by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) desire to enhance its independence and status. By …
The Article Ii Safeguards Of Federal Jurisdiction, Tara Leigh Grove
The Article Ii Safeguards Of Federal Jurisdiction, Tara Leigh Grove
Faculty Publications
Jurisdiction stripping has long been treated as a battle between Congress and the federal judiciary. Scholars have thus overlooked the important (and surprising) role that the executive branch has played in these jurisdictional struggles. This Article seeks to fill that void. Drawing on two strands of social science research, the Article argues that the executive branch has a strong incentive to use its constitutional authority over the enactment and enforcement of federal law to oppose jurisdiction-stripping measures. Notably, this structural argument has considerable historical support. The executive branch has repeatedly opposed jurisdiction-stripping proposals in Congress. That has been true even …
Presidential Power And Constitutional Responsibility, Thomas P. Crocker
Presidential Power And Constitutional Responsibility, Thomas P. Crocker
Faculty Publications
Some constitutional theorists defend unbounded executive power to respond to emergencies or expansive discretionary powers to complete statutory directives. Against these anti-Madisonian approaches, this Article examines how the textual assignment of republican virtues helps to constitute and constrain the president's power. The Madisonian solution for constitutional constraint both creates institutions for unenlightened statesmen and relies on virtue to make governing possible. Constitutional responsibility is a consistent textual theme found in the command to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," the responsibility to remain faithful to the office of president, and the obligation to preserve the Constitution itself. Although …
Impeding Reentry: Agency And Judicial Obstacles To Longer Halfway House Placements, S. David Mitchell
Impeding Reentry: Agency And Judicial Obstacles To Longer Halfway House Placements, S. David Mitchell
Faculty Publications
Part I of this article details the Bureau of Prisons' rules and policies governing inmate placement, including the most recent iteration. Part II examines Chevron27 and the Bureau of Prisons' extraordinary justification exception rule. Part III turns to the threshold matter of obtaining judicial access to challenge the Bureau of Prisons' new rule, with Part III.A arguing that the federal courts should relax their standards when faced with exceptions to the exhaustion requirement and Part III.B arguing for the adoption of a federal public importance exception to the mootness doctrine. The article concludes that these changes will further Congress' dual …
State Secrets & Executive Accountability, Christina E. Wells
State Secrets & Executive Accountability, Christina E. Wells
Faculty Publications
This essay, part of a symposium on executive power, examines use of the state secrets privilege in the Obama administration. Specifically, it views the Obama administration’s approach to the state secrets privilege through the lens of “explanatory accountability” – i.e., the notion that executive officials must explain and justify their decisions or face negative consequences.Although President Obama entered office criticizing the Bush administration’s overly broad assertions of the state secrets privilege, Obama officials nevertheless continued the Bush administration’s actions in various lawsuits. In response to sharp criticism, however, the Obama administration eventually revealed a new policy promising greater accountability and …
Legalism And Decisionism In Crisis, Noa Ben-Asher
Legalism And Decisionism In Crisis, Noa Ben-Asher
Faculty Publications
In the years since September 11, 2001, scholars have advocated two main positions on the role of law and the proper balance of powers among the branches of government in emergencies. This Article critiques these two approaches-which could be called Legalism and Decisionism-and offers a third way. Debates between Legalism and Decisionism turn on (1) whether emergencies can be governed by prescribed legal norms; and (2) what the balance of powers among the three branches of government should be in emergencies. Under the Legalist approach, legal norms can and should guide governmental response to emergencies, and the executive branch is …
Presidential Unilateralism And Political Polarization: Why Today's Congress Lacks The Will And The Way To Stop Presidential Initiatives, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Legal Holes, Noa Ben-Asher
Legal Holes, Noa Ben-Asher
Faculty Publications
(Excerpt)
In the years that followed the events of September 11, 2001, a debate crystallized between those who think that “legal grey and black holes”—which I call simply “legal holes”—are necessary and integral to U.S. law and those who think that they are dangerous and should be abolished. Legal black holes “arise when statutes or legal rules ‘either explicitly exempt[] the executive from the requirements of the rule of law or explicitly exclude[] judicial review of executive action.’” Grey holes, in contrast, “arise when ‘there are some legal constraints on executive action . . . but the[y] are so insubstantial …
Not-So-Independent Agencies: Party Polarization And The Limits Of Institutional Design, Neal Devins, David E. Lewis
Not-So-Independent Agencies: Party Polarization And The Limits Of Institutional Design, Neal Devins, David E. Lewis
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Foreword - Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Fear And Risk Perception In Times Of Democratic Crisis (Symposium), Christina E. Wells, Jennifer K. Robbennolt
Foreword - Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Fear And Risk Perception In Times Of Democratic Crisis (Symposium), Christina E. Wells, Jennifer K. Robbennolt
Faculty Publications
The articles and essays included or referenced in this volume discuss both the factors that affect decision making in times of crisis and their implications for law and democratic theory. Professor Cass Sunstein's keynote address, Fear and Liberty, noted that psychological biases such as the availability heuristic and probability neglect can skew risk perception, leading to excessive public fear of national security risks and unreasonable curtailment of civil liberties. According to Sunstein, courts, which are typically responsible for protecting civil liberties, often lack sufficient information to assess whether national security concerns justify incursions on civil liberties. Nevertheless, he concluded that …
Questioning Deference, Christina E. Wells
Questioning Deference, Christina E. Wells
Faculty Publications
This article examines the accepted axiom that courts should defer to the government's actions during national security crises even when such actions potentially violate citizens' constitutional rights. The paper questions two assumptions underlying that axiom - first, that executive officials are best equipped to determine when security needs justify liberty infringements and, second, that judges are particularly unqualified to meddle in security issues, even when civil liberties are involved. Relying on psychological theories regarding the role that fear plays in skewing risk assessment and historical analyses of past crises, the paper argues that times of crisis lend themselves to unnecessary …
Information Control In Times Of Crisis: The Tools Of Repression (Symposium, Privacy And Surveillance), Christina E. Wells
Information Control In Times Of Crisis: The Tools Of Repression (Symposium, Privacy And Surveillance), Christina E. Wells
Faculty Publications
This article identifies several tools of information control that occur consistently throughout history. The government does not use all of these tools in every national security crisis. Nor does it always abuse them. However, the patterns that emerge suggest a certain predictability to (1) the government's actions during national security crises, and (2) the potentially negative consequences flowing from them that warrants our attention. Understanding this historical pattern of government action allows one to identify and potentially prevent future problems. This is especially important in the post-9/11 world in which the government has asked for and received controversial powers with …
Bring Back The Draft?, Neal Devins
Politics And Principle: An Alternative Take On Seth P. Waxman's Defending Congress, Neal Devins
Politics And Principle: An Alternative Take On Seth P. Waxman's Defending Congress, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Steel Seizure Case: One Of A Kind?, Neal Devins, Louis Fisher
The Steel Seizure Case: One Of A Kind?, Neal Devins, Louis Fisher
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Structural Principles And Presidential Succession, Howard M. Wasserman
Structural Principles And Presidential Succession, Howard M. Wasserman
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Civil Rights And Civil Liberties In A Crisis: A Few Pages Of History, Thomas E. Baker
Civil Rights And Civil Liberties In A Crisis: A Few Pages Of History, Thomas E. Baker
Faculty Publications
Tribute to Judge Procter Hug of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based on a talk adapted from Thomas E. Baker's At War With the Constitution: A History Lesson from the Chief Justice, 14 BYU J. Pub.L. 69 (1999).
It is but a truism that the powers of the government are greatest when the Nation is at war. All of our wartime Commanders-in-Chief have conducted themselves based on this belief. For its part, the Supreme Court has acquiesced in draconian measures undertaken by the Executive that would not be permitted during peacetime. The lasting problem …
At War With Civil Rights And Civil Liberties, Thomas E. Baker
At War With Civil Rights And Civil Liberties, Thomas E. Baker
Faculty Publications
This essay looks at the Supreme Court and acquiescence to measures by the Executive Branch that limit or suspend civil liberties during times of war or threats to national security.
Impeachment Defanged And Other Institutional Ramifications Of The Clinton Scandals, Michael J. Gerhardt
Impeachment Defanged And Other Institutional Ramifications Of The Clinton Scandals, Michael J. Gerhardt
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Falling Out Of Love With America: The Clinton Impeachment And The Madisonian Constitution, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Falling Out Of Love With America: The Clinton Impeachment And The Madisonian Constitution, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
First, were the Nixon and Clinton affairs truly as different as my memory makes them? Were the villains of Watergate as villainous and the heroes as heroic as I remember them? Were nearly all the players on both sides of l'affaire Lewinsky as shallow and fatuous as they seemed? Or to put the question in broader historical context, was the impeachment of Bill Clinton truly distinct, not only from Watergate, but from all of the other (fortunately few) occasions on which a president was seriously threatened with removal from office? Second, if the Clinton impeachment really was as bizarre, unprecedented, …
Abdication By Another Name: An Ode To Lou Fisher, Neal Devins
Abdication By Another Name: An Ode To Lou Fisher, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.