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Painting Black Spaces Red, Black, And Green: The Constitutionality Of The Mural Movement, Jesse R. Merriam
Painting Black Spaces Red, Black, And Green: The Constitutionality Of The Mural Movement, Jesse R. Merriam
Jesse R Merriam
“We live by symbols,” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote. This aphorism certainly rings true in many American inner cities, where murals depicting racial images, such as African symbols and portraits of famous African Americans, pervade the urban landscape. Indeed, the “by” in Holmes’s statement applies to inner-city residents with special force because these residents not only live close to murals, but also according to the symbols contained therein. Pablo Neruda, the Chilean writer and politician, is reported to have described this relationship in more populist language, claiming: “Murals are the people’s blackboard.” But Neruda’s statement obscures the fact that murals …
Establishment Clause-Trophobia: Building A Framework For Escaping The Confines Of Domestic Church-State Jurisprudence, Jesse R. Merriam
Establishment Clause-Trophobia: Building A Framework For Escaping The Confines Of Domestic Church-State Jurisprudence, Jesse R. Merriam
Jesse R Merriam
Does the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” apply to United States conduct abroad? For years, this question has been lurking in the background of discussions of the Constitution’s extraterritorial application. Indeed, while the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Fifth and Sixth Amendments apply abroad in some circumstances, and that the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement generally does not apply abroad, the Court has never considered the transnational applicability of the Establishment Clause. In fact, only one case has directly addressed whether the Establishment Clause applies abroad, Lamont …
Where Do Constitutional Modalities Come From? Complexity Theory And The Emergence Of Intradoctrinalism, Jesse R. Merriam
Where Do Constitutional Modalities Come From? Complexity Theory And The Emergence Of Intradoctrinalism, Jesse R. Merriam
Jesse R Merriam
This article seeks to shed light on one of the most vexing and important problems in constitutional law and theory: how courts interpret the Constitution. Part I of the article begins by recounting the major theories of how courts should interpret the Constitution. Part I then explains why many scholars agree that Philip Bobbitt's modal approach has best addressed this problem. According to this approach, courts and lawyers use six modalities or methods to interpret the Constitution. Part I concludes by pointing out that Bobbitt's framework, though helpful, fails in two respects: it fails to explain where these modalities come …