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Full-Text Articles in Law

Federalism As A Way Station: Windsor As Exemplar Of Doctrine In Motion, Neil S. Siegel Jan 2014

Federalism As A Way Station: Windsor As Exemplar Of Doctrine In Motion, Neil S. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

This Article asks what the Supreme Court’s opinion in United States v. Windsor stands for. It first shows that the opinion leans in the direction of marriage equality but ultimately resists any dispositive “equality” or “federalism” interpretation. The Article next examines why the opinion seems intended to preserve for itself a Delphic obscurity. The Article reads Windsor as an exemplar of what judicial opinions may look like in transition periods, when a Bickelian Court seeks to invite, not end, a national conversation, and to nudge it in a certain direction. In such times, federalism rhetoric—like manipulating the tiers of scrutiny …


Equality Arguments For Abortion Rights, Neil S. Siegel, Reva B. Siegel Jan 2013

Equality Arguments For Abortion Rights, Neil S. Siegel, Reva B. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

Roe v. Wade grounds constitutional protections for women’s decision wheth­er to end a pregnancy in the Due Process Clauses. But in the four decades since Roe, the U.S. Supreme Court has come to recognize the abortion right as an equality right as well as a liberty right. In this Essay, we describe some distinctive features of equality arguments for abortion rights. We then show how, over time, the Court and individual Justices have begun to employ equal­ity arguments in analyzing the constitutionality of abortion restrictions. These arguments first appear inside of substantive due process case law, and then as claims …


Federalism, Liberty, And Equality In United States V. Windsor, Ernest A. Young, Erin C. Blondel Jan 2013

Federalism, Liberty, And Equality In United States V. Windsor, Ernest A. Young, Erin C. Blondel

Faculty Scholarship

This essay argues that federalism played a profoundly important role in the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor, which struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Arguments to the contrary have failed to appreciate how Justice Kennedy's opinion employed federalism not as a freestanding argument but as an essential component of his rights analysis. Far from being a "muddle," as many have claimed, Justice Kennedy's analysis offered one of the most sophisticated examples to date of the interconnections between federalism, liberty, and equality.


The New Textualism, Progressive Constitutionalism, And Abortion Rights: A Reply To Jeffrey Rosen, Neil S. Siegel Jan 2013

The New Textualism, Progressive Constitutionalism, And Abortion Rights: A Reply To Jeffrey Rosen, Neil S. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Section 2 Is Dead: Long Live Section 2, Guy-Uriel Charles Jan 2012

Section 2 Is Dead: Long Live Section 2, Guy-Uriel Charles

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Reasoning About The Irrational: The Roberts Court And The Future Of Constitutional Law, H. Jefferson Powell Jan 2011

Reasoning About The Irrational: The Roberts Court And The Future Of Constitutional Law, H. Jefferson Powell

Faculty Scholarship

Commentary on the future direction of the Roberts Court generally falls along lines that correlate with the commentators' political views on the desirability of the Court's recent decisions. A more informative approach is to look for opinions suggesting changes in the presuppositions with which the Justices approach constitutional decision making. In footnote 27 in his opinion for the Court in the District of Columbia v. Heller Second Amendment decision, Justice Scalia suggested a fundamental revision of the Court's assumptions about the role of judicial doctrine, and the concept of rationality, in constitutional law. Justice Scalia would eliminate the normative aspects …


“Equal Citizenship Stature”: Justice Ginsburg’S Constitutional Vision, Neil S. Siegel Jan 2010

“Equal Citizenship Stature”: Justice Ginsburg’S Constitutional Vision, Neil S. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

In this essay, Professor Siegel examines the nature and function of constitutional visions in the American constitutional order. He argues that Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg possesses such a vision and that her vision is defined by her oft-stated commitment to “full human stature,” to “equal citizenship stature.” He then defends Justice Ginsburg’s characteristically incremental and moderate approach to realizing her vision. He does so in part by establishing that President Barack Obama articulated a similar vision and approach in his Philadelphia speech on American race relations and illustrated its capacity to succeed during the 2008 presidential election.


Cruel And Unequal Punishment, Nita A. Farahany Jan 2009

Cruel And Unequal Punishment, Nita A. Farahany

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues Atkins and its progeny of categorical exemptions to the death penalty create and new and as of yet undiscovered interaction between the Eighth and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The United States Supreme Court, the legal academy and commentators have failed to consider the relationship between the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause and the Equal Protection Clause that the Court's new Eighth Amendment jurisprudence demands. This article puts forth a new synthesis of these two clauses, and demonstrates how the Court's new Eighth Amendment jurisprudence has remarkable Fourteenth Amendment implications. To see the point in …


The Unbearable Lightness Of Marriage In The Abortion Decisions Of The Supreme Court: Altered States In Constitutional Law, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 2009

The Unbearable Lightness Of Marriage In The Abortion Decisions Of The Supreme Court: Altered States In Constitutional Law, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


State Domas, Neutral Principles, And The Möbius Of State Action, Darrell A. H. Miller Jan 2008

State Domas, Neutral Principles, And The Möbius Of State Action, Darrell A. H. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

This essay uses the Mobius strip as a mathematical metaphor for how state "defense of marriage amendments" (DOMAs) can twist the Shelley v. Kraemer contribution to state action doctrine. It argues that Shelley's core insight -- that judicial enforcement of private agreements can constitute state action and must meet federal Fourteenth Amendment commands -- can be used by state judiciaries to hold that state judicial enforcement of private agreements between same sex-couples is a species of state action forbidden by state DOMA. As explored in this essay, the potential doctrinal contortion of Shelley by state DOMAs is at once a …


In Defense Of Deference, Guy-Uriel Charles, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer Jan 2004

In Defense Of Deference, Guy-Uriel Charles, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Racial Identity, Electoral Structures, And The First Amendment Right Of Association, Guy-Uriel Charles Jan 2003

Racial Identity, Electoral Structures, And The First Amendment Right Of Association, Guy-Uriel Charles

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


To What Extent Does The Power Of Government To Determine The Boundaries And Conditions Of Lawful Commerce Permit Government To Declare Who May Advertise And Who May Not?, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 2002

To What Extent Does The Power Of Government To Determine The Boundaries And Conditions Of Lawful Commerce Permit Government To Declare Who May Advertise And Who May Not?, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Challenges To Racial Redistricting In The New Millennium: Hunt V. Cromartie As A Case Study, Guy-Uriel Charles, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer Jan 2001

Challenges To Racial Redistricting In The New Millennium: Hunt V. Cromartie As A Case Study, Guy-Uriel Charles, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


The Section 5 Mystique, Morrison, And The Future Of Federal Antidiscrimination Law, Margaret H. Lemos, Samuel Estreicher Jan 2000

The Section 5 Mystique, Morrison, And The Future Of Federal Antidiscrimination Law, Margaret H. Lemos, Samuel Estreicher

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Quo Vadis, Posadas?, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 1998

Quo Vadis, Posadas?, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

This examination looks at Virginia's ban on speech advertising motorcycles and revisits the question raised in the Posadas decision - may a state ban speech about a legal product the state could ban if it so desired. This article uses comparisons to the government employee speech cases to further illuminate the issue.


What States Owe Outsiders, Matthew D. Adler Jan 1993

What States Owe Outsiders, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


The Courts, Congress, And Educational Adequacy: The Equal Protection Predicament, Betsy Levin Jan 1979

The Courts, Congress, And Educational Adequacy: The Equal Protection Predicament, Betsy Levin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Equality For Individuals Or Equality For Groups: Implications Of The Supreme Court Decision In The Manhart Case, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 1978

Equality For Individuals Or Equality For Groups: Implications Of The Supreme Court Decision In The Manhart Case, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

This commentary breaks down the case of the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power v. Manhart and discusses what effects the Supreme Court's decision will have when Title VII is applied to university employers, particularly in their relationship with TIAA-CREF


A Preliminary Report On The Bakke Case, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 1978

A Preliminary Report On The Bakke Case, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

This comment breaks down the variety of opinions in the Bakke case and discusses the immediate implications the decision may have on the academic community.


Recent Developments In The Law Of Equal Educational Opportunity, Betsy Levin Jul 1975

Recent Developments In The Law Of Equal Educational Opportunity, Betsy Levin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


The Tentative Emergence Of Student Power In The United States, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 1969

The Tentative Emergence Of Student Power In The United States, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


The Constitutional Rights Of Public Employees: A Comment On The Inappropriate Uses Of An Old Analogy, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 1969

The Constitutional Rights Of Public Employees: A Comment On The Inappropriate Uses Of An Old Analogy, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

Beginning with Justice Douglass's assertion that the State is bound in the same ways when acting as an employer as it is when acting as a governing body, this examination delves deeper to determine how this doctrine actually limits the government when it acts as an employer. This article endorses the theory of examining these limits not in the context of if the government is allowed to enforce them in the public sphere, but if the government may mandate such limits in the private sphere


A Constitution For Every Man, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 1969

A Constitution For Every Man, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


The O’Meara Case And Constitutional Requirements Of State Anti-Discrimination Housing Laws, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 1962

The O’Meara Case And Constitutional Requirements Of State Anti-Discrimination Housing Laws, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

Against the backdrop of the highly criticized O’Meara case, this comment explores the possible rational bases a state could use to support a differentiation between publicly-assisted and unassisted home owners. This comment also addresses the question of how substantial that rational bases must be in order to survive the requirements of equal protection.


Comment: Sit-Ins And State Action- Mr. Justice Douglas, Concurring, Kenneth L. Karst, William W. Van Alstyne Jan 1962

Comment: Sit-Ins And State Action- Mr. Justice Douglas, Concurring, Kenneth L. Karst, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.