Law Commons^™

Book Review: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

Many in the legal academy have heard of Michelle Alexander’s new book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness. It has been making waves. One need only attend any number of legal conferences in the past year or so, or read through the footnotes in recent law review articles. Furthermore, this book has been reviewed in journals from a number of academic fields, suggesting Alexander has provided a text with profound insights across the university and public spheres. While I will briefly talk about the book as a book, I will spend the majority of this …

Social Justice In Turbulent Times: Critical Race Theory And Occupy Wall Street, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

In this brief article, I tackle several issues that are critically important to progressive move(ment)s in the law and in society as a whole. I am convinced that the progressive community can make great strides in enriching the law and people’s experience with it through continued articulation and combined sense of theory and practice. We need to move beyond litigation and engage our critical consciousness to embrace activism on all fronts. This is why I locate a positive politics of struggle in the Occupy Movements that I believe progressives ought to embrace . We must simultaneously come to grips with …

The Rise Of Planning In Industrial America, 1865-1914

Richard Adelstein

How American firms grew very large after the Civil War, and how Americans responded to them.

Judicial Non-Compliance In A Non-Hierarchical Legal Order: Isolated Accident Or Omen Of Judicial Armageddon?, Arthur Dyevre

Arthur Dyevre

In a multi-level, non-hierarchical court system, where courts at the upper echelon do not have the power to reverse the decisions of courts at the lower level, judicial cooperation appears crucial to the effectiveness of the higher-level law. For this reason, the recent judgment of the Czech Constitutional Court, which declared the decision of the Court of Justice in the Landtová case ultra vires, would seem to deal a terrible blow to the authority of European Union law. As doomsayers will be quick to point out, the Czech decision could set a dangerous precedent that may well one day bring …

El Proyecto De Reforma Del Artículo 24 Constitucional Sobre Libertad Religiosa, Jorge Adame Goddard

Jorge Adame Goddard

No abstract provided.

Significado Y Alcance De Las Restricciones Constitucionales Impuestas A Los Ministros De Culto, Jorge Adame Goddard

Jorge Adame Goddard

No abstract provided.

Las Restricciones A Los Derechos Políticos De Los Ministros De Culto De Hacer Proselitismo Y Oponerse A Las Leyes Y A Las Instituciones, Jorge Adame Goddard

Jorge Adame Goddard

No abstract provided.

Beijing’S “Congo” Interpretation: Commercial Implications, Chin Leng Lim

Chin Leng Lim

No abstract provided.

Correos Electrónicos De Autoridades Públicas: En Torno A Una Mala Caracterización Jurídica, Fernando Muñoz

Fernando Muñoz

No abstract provided.

Protección Contra La Violencia Sexual Hacia Las/Los Adolescentes Y Respeto De Sus Derechos Fundamentales: A Propósito Del Artículo 173.3 Del Código Penal Y La Resolución En El Expediente Nº 00018-2011-Pi/Tc, Beatriz Ramirez

Beatriz Ramirez

Repensar A Teoria Do Estado Entre Pluralismo Ético E Globalização, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Não pode deixar de haver uma relação entre Estado e valores. Sem alguns valores partilhados, o Estado tem dificuldades. Há sempre, de um modo ou de outro, uma Ética no Estado. Ou várias. Como lidar com as éticas e as morais em sociedades pluralista como as nossas? Esta dificuldade obriga-nos também a repensar o próprio Estado, também desafiado por tempos de globalização. Foram estas algumas das interrogações que desejamos colocar neste estudo, elaborado para corresponder ao honroso convite para colaborar no portentoso volume que homenageia o grande constitucionalista brasileiro, e Vice-Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil, Prof. Michel Temer.

Washington Was Right: The Supreme Court Could Have Intervened To Interpret French Treaties, Kevin P. Chapman

Kevin P. Chapman

In the early days of his presidency, George Washington faced his first international crisis when French Ambassador Genet demanded that the United States honor its treaty obligations and provide support to the new French Republic in its ongoing war with Great Britain. Concerned about the legal effect that the French Revolution had on the viability of these obligations, Washington asked the Supreme Court to render an opinion. Chief Justice John Jay replied that the Constitution did not authorize the Supreme Court to render advisory opinions.

If Jay was correct, why did Washington, who presided over the very convention that produced …

Do The Right Thing: Understanding The Interest-Convergence Thesis, Stephen M. Feldman

Stephen M. Feldman

Professor Derrick Bell was one of the most influential constitutional scholars of the last fifty years. His insights spurred civil rights scholars as well as thinkers in other fields. One of his most important legacies is the interest-convergence thesis, which asserts that, historically, African Americans gained social justice primarily when their interests converged with the interests of the white majority. In a recently published article, Rethinking the Interest-Convergence Thesis, Professor Justin Driver calls this legacy into question. This Essay defends the interest-convergence thesis from Driver’s attack. It argues that the analytical flaws he identifies only exist by dint of his …

The Antiterrorism And Effective Death Penalty Act Of 1996 – An Illustration Of John Kingdon’S “Three Streams” Theory Of How Public Policy Is Changed, Paul J. Larkin Jr.

Paul J Larkin Jr.

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 serves as a recent illustration of John Kingdon’s “Three Streams” Theory explaining how public policy is made and changed.

"Bad Juror" Lists And The Prosecutor's Duty To Disclose, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Expectations Of Privacy In Social Media, Stephen E. Henderson

Stephen E Henderson

This article, which largely tracks my remarks at Mississippi College’s Social Media Symposium, examines expectations of privacy in social media such as weblogs (blogs), Facebook pages, and Twitter tweets. Social media is diverse and ever-diversifying, and while I address some of that complexity, I focus on the core functionality, which provides the groundwork for further conversation as the technology and related social norms develop. As one would expect, just as with our offline communications and other online communications, in some we have an expectation of privacy that is recognized by current law, in some we have an expectation of privacy …

Black Lung Benefits And Constitutional Challenges: The Byrd Amendments To The Black Lung Benefits Act; And The Kentucky Consensus Procedure, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

This note discusses two recent issues where legislation concerning benefits for coal workers affected by pneumoconiosis (black lung) was challenged under the US Constitution, including issues of due process, equal treatment and the takings clause. Congress has recently restored earlier legislation making it easier for the survivors of workers affected by black lung to qualify for federal benefits. Several courts of appeal have upheld this legislation against constitutional challenges from employers holding that it is neither in breach of the employers’ due process rights nor a taking within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. In contrast, the …

Equal Protection, Immigrants And Access To Health Care And Welfare Benefits, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

Equal Protection, Workers Compensation And Offset Of Benefits (Again) – Caldwell V Maco Workers Compensation And Caputo V Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania)

Mel Cousins

As noted in an earlier article, one issue which has received considerable attention in terms of equal protection challenges in US courts is that concerning the offset of one type of social security benefits with worker’s compensation payments. The Supreme Court in Richardson v Belcher upheld the reduction in social security disability insurance because of receipt of a state worker’s compensation payment as rationally based and free from invidious discrimination. The Court and various federal courts of appeals have subsequently shown little interest in subjecting such offset provisions to more than a minimal level of scrutiny. State courts have also …

The Globalization Of The Canadian Constitution, Sujit Choudhry

Sujit Choudhry

Decoding First Amendment Coverage Of Computer Source Code In The Age Of Youtube, Facebook And The Arab Spring, Jorge R. Roig

Jorge R Roig

The Practice Of Criminal Defence: Why We Fight And Defend Those Most Imperilled, Every Day, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

Being a criminal defense attorney is a special calling. Aside from dealing with the human element, they also fight daily to see the government acts within the bounds established by the Bill of Rights.

The Empire Strikes Back: How To Prepare & Respond To Environmental Criminal Investigations, Beau James Brock, Andre Belanger

Beau James Brock

Powerpoint presentation on defending corporations, individuals, and governmental entities who are under criminal investigation by EPA.

Mongoose Basketball Playbook, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

Mongoose Girls Basketball Playbook, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

Mongoose Basketball Practice Regimen, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

Fiduciary Principles And Statutory Form In Relation To The Necessary And Proper Clause: Potential Constitutional Implications For Congressional Short Titles, Brian Christopher Jones

Brian Christopher Jones

This article explores the principles of fiduciary duty and statutory form in relation to the “proper” portion of the Necessary and Proper Clause, and especially in regard to congressional short titles for bills and laws. While the clause is one of the most influential and controversial constitutional phrases, its meaning remains shrouded in mystery. At some level amongst the founders, the Constitution was regarded as a grant of fiduciary duty from the government to its people; given this, the clause should be read from such a perspective, and the duties of loyalty and good faith, among others, come into play …

Judicial Review And Originalism: Do We Really Want A "Dead" Constitution, Albert E. Poirier Jr.

Albert E Poirier Jr.

A Constitutional Case For Amending Article 9, Craig Martin

Craig Martin

Bad News For John Marshall, David B. Kopel, Gary Lawson

David B Kopel

In Bad News for Professor Koppelman: The Incidental Unconstitutionality of the Individual Mandate, we demonstrated that the individual mandate’s forced participation in commercial transactions cannot be justified under the Necessary and Proper Clause as the Clause was interpreted in McCulloch v. Maryland. Professor Andrew Koppelman’s response, Bad News for Everybody, wrongly conflates that argument with a wide range of interpretative and substantive positions that are not logically entailed by taking seriously the requirement that laws enacted under the Necessary and Proper Clause must be incidental to an enumerated power. His response is thus largely unresponsive to our actual arguments.