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Substantive Due Process And The Scope Of Constitutional Torts, Michael L. Wells, Thomas A. Eaton
Substantive Due Process And The Scope Of Constitutional Torts, Michael L. Wells, Thomas A. Eaton
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The thesis of this Article is that both the Supreme Court and its critics have failed to identify and confront the central issue presented by these due process constitutional tort cases. That issue is neither procedural fairness nor the choice between state and federal courts. It is deciding whether a government-inflicted injury to life, liberty, or property violates the substantive protections of the due process clauses and thereby warrants a constitutionally derived tort remedy. In Part II of this Article we examine the Supreme Court's decisions in this area, focusing primarily on Parratt v. Taylor. We demonstrate that neither Parratt …
In Their Own Image: The Reframing Of The Due Process Clause By The United States Supreme Court, J. Ralph Beaird
In Their Own Image: The Reframing Of The Due Process Clause By The United States Supreme Court, J. Ralph Beaird
Scholarly Works
A distinguished constitutional scholar recently pointed out that "many of the important decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States are not based on law in the popular sense of that term." It is true, he noted, that "the court endeavors to identify Constitutional clauses upon which to hang its pronouncements." "[S]ome key words and phrases in the Constitution," however, "are so highly indeterminate that they cannot really qualify as law in any usual sense." Rather, he said, "they are semantic blanks--verbal vacuums that may be filled readily with any one of many possible meanings." Thus, it is not …