Law Commons^™

Arms Control Inspection: Constitutional Restriction On Treaty Verification In The United States, David A. Koplow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The United States and the Soviet Union recently signed a treaty that eliminates an entire class of nuclear arms, and allows more intrusive verification procedures than ever before. As technology improves and verification becomes even more central in arms control negotiations, Professor Koplow warns that the United States Constitution limits the types of verification procedures to which the United States can agree. After reviewing existing United States-Soviet Union arms control treaties and agreements, Professor Koplow examines potential verification procedures in light of the fourth amendment's protection of United States citizens from government intrusion. He argues that although many contemplated verification …

Jurisprudence And Gender, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

What is a human being? Legal theorists must, perforce, answer this question: jurisprudence, after all, is about human beings. The task has not proven to be divisive. In fact, virtually all modern American legal theorists, like most modern moral and political philosophers, either explicitly or implicitly embrace what I will call the "separation thesis" about what it means to be a human being: a "human being," whatever else he is, is physically separate from all other human beings. I am one human being and you are another, and that distinction between you and me is central to the meaning of …

Communities, Texts, And Law: Reflections On The Law And Literature Movement, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

How do we form communities? How might we form better ones? What is the role of law in that process? In a recent series of books and articles, James Boyd White, arguably the modern law and literature movement's founder, has put forward distinctively literary answers to these questions. Perhaps because of the fluidity of the humanities, White's account of the nature of community is not nearly as axiomatic to the law and literature movement as is Posner's depiction of the "individual" to legal economists. Nevertheless, White's conception is increasingly representative of the literary-legalist's world view. Furthermore, with the exception of …

Taking The Framers Seriously, William Michael Treanor

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article reviews Taking the Constitution Seriously by Walter Berns (1987).

This review focuses on three of the key historical points that Walter Berns makes: his arguments that the Declaration of Independence is a Lockean document; that the Constitution encapsulates the political philosophy of the Declaration; and that the framers viewed the commercialization of society as a salutary development and were unambivalent champions of the right to property. Examination of these issues suggests that the ideological universe of the framers was far more complex than Berns indicates. While the revolutionary era witnessed a new concern with individual rights and a …

Baby M Reconsidered, Judith C. Areen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Surrogate mothering depends on treating procreation, an activity traditionally viewed as an integral aspect of family life (and family law), as a service to be purchased in the marketplace and governed by the rules of contract law. Thus surrogacy forces us to confront the differences between two of our most fundamental institutions-the family and the market.

A Need For Caring, Judith C. Areen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Review of AIDS AND THE LAW: A GUIDE FOR THE PUBLIC. Edited by Harlon L. Dalton, Scott Burris, and the Yale AIDS Law Project. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1987. Pp. vii, 382.

Reconceiving The Ninth Amendment, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The courts long have protected constitutional rights that are not listed explicitly in the Constitution, but are they warranted in doing so? As scholars and commentators vigorously debate this and other questions about the appropriate role of judges in interpreting the Constitution, the Ninth Amendment has assumed increasing importance. Its declaration that "[t]he enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people" has suggested to many that the set of rights protected by the Constitution is not dosed and that judges may be authorized to protect these "unenumerated" rights …

The Ninth Amendment And Constitutional Legitimacy: Foreword To The "Symposium On Interpreting The Ninth Amendment", Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Does the Constitution of the United States of America impart legitimacy on legislation enacted under its auspices? If so, how? Is a citizen bound in conscience to obey such legislation? If so, why? Does legislation create a duty of obedience simply because it was enacted by a group of persons calling themselves a "legislature," or is there some other reason? Would any constitution impart such legitimacy or is there something special about the character of those that do? If the latter, does the United States Constitution have the requisite character?

While I shall not definitively answer these questions in this …

Can Justice And The Rule Of Law Be Reconciled?, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Much of the current debate between activists on "the left" and "the right" concerning the legal system can be conceived in purely jurisprudential, as opposed to political, terms. Today, many on the left insist that the decisions made by the legal system conform as closely as possible to some substantive conception of "justice" that is independent of the legal system itself. They call those who disagree "formalists." Many on the right insist that the procedural values of the "rule of law"-general rule-making, impartially administered among persons and over time-preempt concern for correct outcomes. They call those who disagree "result-oriented."

A Civil Liberties Analysis Of Surrogacy Arrangements, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this essay the author comes to the following conclusions based upon a civil liberties analysis. First, surrogacy arrangements cannot be prohibited or criminalized. Second, the state cannot ban the exchange of money for surrogacy services, provided the money is paid for conception, gestation, and birth. Money, however, cannot be paid on condition that the gestational mother waive her parental rights over the child. Third, contractual provisions that require the gestational mother to waive her parental rights or her rights to privacy and autonomy are void and unenforceable. Fourth, when the child is born, both the gestational mother and the …

Baby M And The Cassandra Problem, Girardeau A. Spann

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Part I of this essay outlines the facts of the Baby M case and traces the reasoning the New Jersey Supreme Court used to justify the legal conclusions that it reached.

Part II then identifies the three common analytical techniques or modes of argument on which the state supreme court relied in conducting its analysis and suggests that each is itself too dependent upon unprincipled policy preferences to have excluded such preferences from the decisionmaking process.

Finally, Part III suggests that no matter how strong an argument one might offer to demonstrate the systemic vulnerability of principle to preference, the …

The Virtues And Vices Of A Judge: An Aristotelian Guide To Judicial Selection, Lawrence B. Solum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A core insight of the legal realists was that many disputes are indeterminate. For example, in many appellate adjudications, respectable legal arguments can be made for both sides of the dispute. A contemporary reaction to the realist insight by critical legal scholars is expressed in the slogan "Law is politics." This critical slogan might be elaborated as follows: in openly political activities, such as the legislative process or partisan elections, debate centers on issues of value and social vision that are outside the scope of "legal reasoning." Judicial opinions merely dress up political decisions in the garb of legal reasoning. …

Economic Man And Literary Woman: One Contrast, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The law and literature movement has been with us long enough that it is now possible to speak seriously of a "literary analysis of law," just as it has become possible, and even standard, to speak of an "economic analysis of law." It is also standard, of course, to speak of that abstract character who has emerged from the economic analysis of law: "economic man." In these brief comments, I want to offer one contrast of the "economic man" that emerges from economic legal analysis with the "literary person" that is beginning to emerge from literary legal analysis. I will …

The Authoritarian Impulse In Constitutional Law, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Should there be greater participation by legislators and citizens in constitutional debate, theory, and decision-making? An increasing number of legal theorists from otherwise divergent perspectives have recently argued against what Paul Brest calls the "principle of judicial exclusivity" in our constitutional processes. These theorists contend that because issues of public morality in our culture either are, or tend to become, constitutional issues, all political actors, and most notably legislators and citizens, should consider the constitutional implications of the moral issues of the day. Because constitutional questions are essentially moral questions about how active and responsible citizens should constitute themselves, we …

The Collision Between New Discovery Amendments And Expert Testimony Rules, Paul F. Rothstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The young litigator's nightmare was always the same. He was in medieval Europe, ready to engage in a sword fight with the expert swordsman representing his arch rival. After countless hours of preparation, he felt confident that he would be able to hold his own against the swordsman. But when the swordsman drew his lengthy rapier from its sheath, the young attorney pulled only a short dagger from his scabbard. Realizing that he was doomed to defeat, he tossed his dagger into the air and ran from the scene with the laughter of the onlookers ringing in his ears.

The …

Policy, Procedures, And People: Governmental Response To A Privately Initiated Nuclear Test Monitoring Project As A Case Study In National Security Decision-Making, Philip G. Schrag

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article applies the Allisonian framework to the U.S. Government's response to a private arms control initiative undertaken in 1986 by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental organization. This case lends itself to fruitful analysis for several reasons. First, while it fits the criteria for second-level decisions, it also involves a critical area of international relations-the control of nuclear weapons. Second, the involvement of numerous government agencies in the project presents ample opportunity to examine processes within and among agencies. Third, the reaction of the United States appears, at first blush, to have been ambivalent or inconsistent, for …

A Scarcity Of Organs, Judith C. Areen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The scarcity of organs will be eliminated only if significantly more people agree to donate their own organs and those of close family members. For this, a more fundamental rethinking of the present system of organ retrieval may be required. Such a revision would begin by placing the debate between supporters of a system based on voluntary giving and those who favor either a market system or one based on expropriation (presumed consent) in the larger context of debate about the kind of society we favor.

Review Of Reproductive Genetics And The Law, Judith C. Areen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Building A Commercial Practice, Stephen B. Cohen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Commercial real estate law practice includes but is not limited to everything from new construction to complex exchanges, from strip shopping centers with a few stores to modern regional shopping centers, from the small two or three unit office building to the large downtown and suburban office/residential condo developments, and the sale of any type of business property. While it appears there is room for thousands of attorneys to handle the major transactions described above, this is generally not the case. It is well known that the commercial real estate bar in most large metropolitan areas is a rather select …

Jewish Law: Finally, A Useable And Readable Text For The Noninitiate, Sherman L. Cohn

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Why would anyone not studying religion be interested in Jewish law? It will be surprising for some to learn that some twenty to twenty-five law schools now offer courses in Jewish law. The literature in English is growing year after year. And the area is becoming one of serious study for scholars of law as distinguished from scholars of religion. Jewish law as taught in secular law schools is not that of religious ritual. It is the law of contracts, torts, damages, property, secured transactions, civil and criminal procedure, legal ethics, and consumer protection. In other words, it spans the …