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Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

Bottlenecks And Antidiscrimination Theory, Samuel R. Bagenstos Jun 2014

Bottlenecks And Antidiscrimination Theory, Samuel R. Bagenstos

Reviews

In American antidiscrimination theory, two positions have competed for primacy. One, anticlassification, sees the proper goal of antidiscrimination law as being essentially individualistic. The problem with discrimination, in this view, is that it classifies individuals on the basis of an irrelevant or arbitrary characteristic—and that it, as a result, denies them opportunities for which they are otherwise individually qualified. The other position, antisubordination, sees the proper goal of antidiscrimination law as being more group oriented. The problem with discrimination, in this view, is that it helps constitute a social system in which particular groups are systematically subject to disadvantage and …


The Future Resists Control, Richard A. Primus May 2014

The Future Resists Control, Richard A. Primus

Reviews

Bruce Ackerman long ago persuaded me that Article V has not been the only route—or even the normal route—to legitimate constitutional change. Volume 3 admirably adds nuance to Ackerman’s account of what happens instead. But nuance can be a vice of a theory as well as a virtue, depending on whether the goal is to understand a phenomenon in its complexity or to provide an actionable program for the future. We The People aims to do both: it is, after all, a grand project, probably the most important in constitutional thought in the last thirty years. But in spite of …


Review Of Failing Law Schools, Richard O. Lempert Mar 2014

Review Of Failing Law Schools, Richard O. Lempert

Reviews

Brian Tamanaha's book Failing Law Schools is neither sociology nor a synthesis of social science research. Rather it is social commentary rooted in Tamanaha’s experience as a law professor, the literature on legal education, and barely analyzed data on law school costs and student outcomes. Tamanaha cannot be blamed for the absence of sophisticated research on matters that cry out for empirical investigation nor for having to rely on data sources that at best capture only a few bivariate relationships, but these limitations make his causal analyses and proposed solutions less than compelling. Still the book is not without its …


Gideon V. Wainwright A Half Century Later, Yale Kamisar Jan 2014

Gideon V. Wainwright A Half Century Later, Yale Kamisar

Reviews

When he was nearing the end of his distinguished career, one of my former law professors observed that a dramatic story of a specific case "has the same advantages that a play or a novel has over a general discussion of ethics or political theory." Ms. Houppert illustrates this point in her very first chapter.


Review Of Taming Globalization: International Law, The U.S. Constitution, And The New World Order, Kristina Daugirdas Jan 2014

Review Of Taming Globalization: International Law, The U.S. Constitution, And The New World Order, Kristina Daugirdas

Reviews

According to Julian Ku of Hofstra University School of Law and John Yoo of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, globalization poses a significant threat to the U.S. constitutional system of governance. In their recent book, Taming Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World Order, they seek to reassure readers that this threat can be deflected. If their prescriptions are followed, Ku and Yoo argue, the United States can avoid constitutional problems while continuing to reap the benefits of international cooperation. Ku and Yoo insist that they are neither trying to stop globalization …


The Model Of Plans And The Prospects For Positivism, Scott Hershovitz Jan 2014

The Model Of Plans And The Prospects For Positivism, Scott Hershovitz

Reviews

In Legality, Scott Shapiro builds his case for legal positivism on a simple premise: laws are plans. Recognition of that fact leads to legal positivism, Shapiro says, because the content of a plan is fixed by social facts. In this essay, I argue that Shapiro’s case for legal positivism fails. Moreover, I argue that we can learn important lessons about the prospects for positivism by attending to the ways in the argument fails. As I show, the flaws in Shapiro’s argument reveal structural problems with a family of prominent positivist views, including the one defended by Joseph Raz.