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Full-Text Articles in Constitutional Law

Balancing Competing Individual Constitutional Rights: Raising Some Questions, Taunya Banks Oct 2008

Balancing Competing Individual Constitutional Rights: Raising Some Questions, Taunya Banks

Taunya Lovell Banks

Despite increasing support for global human rights ..., some scholars and constitutional democracies, like the United States, continue to resist constitutionalizing socio-economic rights. Socio-economic rights, unlike political and civil constitutional rights that usually prohibit government actions, are thought to impose positive obligations on government. As a result, constitutionalizing socio-economic rights raises questions about separation of powers and the competence of courts to decide traditionally legislative and executive matters. ... [W]hen transitional democracies, like South Africa, choose to constitutionalize socio-economic rights, courts inevitably must grapple with their role in the realization of those rights.... Two questions immediately come to mind: (1) …


The Natural Right Of Self-Defense: Heller's Lesson For The World, David B. Kopel Jan 2008

The Natural Right Of Self-Defense: Heller's Lesson For The World, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller constitutionalized the right of self-defense, and described self-defense as a natural, inherent right. Analysis of natural law in Heller shows why Justice Stevens' dissent is clearly incorrect, and illuminates a crucial weakness in Justice Breyer's dissent. The constitutional recognition of the natural law right of self-defense has important implications for American law, and for foreign and international law.


Parents Involved And The Meaning Of Brown: An Old Debate Renewed, Jonathan L. Entin Jan 2008

Parents Involved And The Meaning Of Brown: An Old Debate Renewed, Jonathan L. Entin

Faculty Publications

In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 the Supreme Court debated the meaning of Brown v. Board of Education. This essay, prepared for a symposium on Parents Involved, traces the roots of the debate between color-blindness and anti-subordination to Brown itself and efforts to desegregate public schools in the wake of that decision but shows that the debate goes back at least as far as the tensions reflected in the first Justice Harlan's celebrated dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson.


Is Nominal Use An Answer To The Free Speech & Right Of Publicity Quandary?: Lessons From America’S National Pastime, Raymond Shih Ray Ku Jan 2008

Is Nominal Use An Answer To The Free Speech & Right Of Publicity Quandary?: Lessons From America’S National Pastime, Raymond Shih Ray Ku

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


The Thirteenth Amendment And Access To Education For Children Of Undocumented Workers: A New Look At Plyler V. Doe, Maria Ontiveros, Joshua Drexler Dec 2007

The Thirteenth Amendment And Access To Education For Children Of Undocumented Workers: A New Look At Plyler V. Doe, Maria Ontiveros, Joshua Drexler

Maria L. Ontiveros

This paper examines the extent to which the Thirteenth Amendment can be used to guarantee access to public education for the children of undocumented workers. It offers a reimagined version of Plyer, written using the Thirteenth Amendment, instead of the Fourteenth Amendment. After offering a brief summary of Thirteenth Amendment jurisprudence, it offers a variety of theoretical frameworks for analyzing the denial of education under the U.S. Constitution. It argues that the Thirteenth Amendment can provide a powerful tool for litigation, moral persuasion, organizing and legislation in the area.