Constitutional Law Commons^™

The Incompatible Treatment Of Majorities In Election Law And Deliberative Democracy, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

Deliberative democracy offers a distinctive and appealing conception of political life, but is it one that might be called into service to guide actual reform of existing election law? This possibility seems remote because election law and deliberative democracy are built around different priorities and theoretical premises. A foundational area of disagreement lies in the treatment of majorities. Election law is structured, at both the legislative and constitutional levels, so as to privilege majorities and systematically to magnify their power, whereas deliberative democracy aims at privileging minorities (or at least de-privileging majorities). The main purpose of the election law now …

The Evolution Of Statesmanship In The United States: How The Democratization Of Civic Education And Presidential Selection Transformed The American Executive, Andrew Depasquale

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Business and Public Affairs at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Government by Andrew DePasquale on December 6, 2013.

The Singapore Constitution: A Brief Introduction, Smu Apolitical

Student Publications

This primer seeks to provide an easy guide to those interested in finding out more about the Singapore Constitution. The Constitution provides for the structure of the government and the roles of the judiciary and the parliament. It also secures our fundamental liberties. Hence, some basic knowledge of the Constitution is useful for every citizen.

The primer starts by providing an introduction to the Singapore Constitution and explains the meaning of the concept of separation of powers among the executive, legislature and the judiciary. It also touches on the functions of the three entities, such as how laws are made …

Constitutionally Tailoring Punishment, Richard A. Bierschbach, Stephanos Bibas

All Faculty Scholarship

Since the turn of the century, the Supreme Court has begun to regulate non-capital sentencing under the Sixth Amendment in the Apprendi line of cases (requiring jury findings of fact to justify sentence enhancements) as well as under the Eighth Amendment in the Miller and Graham line of cases (forbidding mandatory life imprisonment for juvenile defendants). Though both lines of authority sound in individual rights, in fact they are fundamentally about the structures of criminal justice. These two seemingly disparate lines of doctrine respond to structural imbalances in non-capital sentencing by promoting morally appropriate punishment judgments that are based on …

Secrecy Broken: Reports Of The Delegates Following The Federal Convention, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Despite the measures taken to ensure the secrecy of the proceedings during the federal convention, many delegates made reports to their states and explained the choices underlying various clauses. However, no delegate had access to the official journal of the constitutional convention.

Every Picture Tells A Story: The 2010 Round Of Congressional Redistricting In New England, Robert G. Boatright, James R. Gomes, Diana Evans, John Baughman, Nicholas M. Giner, Dante J. Scala, Amelia Najjar, Nicholas Rossi

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

The United States Constitution requires that

the number of representatives in Congress be

reapportioned among the states based on a decennial

census, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled half a

century ago that congressional districts within each

state must be, as nearly as practicable, equal in

population. However, the actual drawing of district

lines for our national lower house and the methods

employed for doing so are largely left to the individual

states. Redistricting thus presents a fertile field for

the comparative examination of state politics and

political institutions.

Autochthonous Constitutional Design In Post-Colonial Singapore: Intimations Of Confucianism And The Leviathan In Entrenching Dominant Government, Eugene K. B. Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Does Singapore's approach to institutional design vis-avis political representation prioritize strong and effective government, or is the goal one that is geared towards a representative government as a means of enhancing political governance? his paper examines the series of amendments to Singapore's Constitution and related legislation, between 1984 and 1990, and in 2010, which relate to political representation in Singapore's electoral system and unicameral legislature. At one level, the changes are part of the endeavor to retain Parliament's standing as the focal point of Singapore's Westminstermodeled system of government. The constitutional changes reflect the political elites' abiding belief that institutional …

'Dred Scott V. Sandford' Analysis, Sarah E. Roessler

Student Publications

The Scott v. Sandford decision will forever be known as a dark moment in America's history. The Supreme Court chose to rule on a controversial issue, and they made the wrong decision. Scott v. Sandford is an example of what can happen when the Court chooses to side with personal opinion instead of what is right.

Table Of Contents

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Gideon: Looking Backward, Looking Forward, Looking In The Mirror, Steven Zeidman

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Does The Right To Counsel On Appeal End As You Exit The Court Of Appeals?, Nancy P. Collins

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Undersigned Attorney Hereby Certifies -- The Washington Supreme Court Rule On Standards And Its Implications, Justice Sheryl Gordon Mccloud, Justice Susan Owens, Marc Boman, Joanne Moore

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

G Forces: Gideon V. Wainwright And Matthew Adler's Move Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis, Janet Moore

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Improving Access To Justice: Plain Language Family Law Court Forms In Washington State, Charles R. Dyer, Joan E. Fairbanks, M. Lynn Greiner, Kirsten Barron, Janet L. Skreen, Josefina Cerrillo-Ramirez, Andrew Lee, Bill Hinsee

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Dark Medicine: How The National Research Act Has Failed To Address Racist Practices In Biomedical Experiments Targeting The African-American Community, Anietie Maureen-Ann Akpan

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Driving While License Suspended - Third Degree, A Framework For Requesting Alternative Sentences, Sahar Fathi

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Securing Food Justice, Sovereignty & Sustainability In The Face Of The Food Safety Modernization Act (Fsma), Eve Kerber

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

About The Authors

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Jacqueline Mcmurtrie

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Gideon At Fifty -- Golden Anniversary Or Mid Life Crisis, Kim Taylor-Thompson

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Fifty Years After Gideon: It Is Long Past Time To Provide Lawyers For Misdemeanor Defendants Who Cannot Afford To Hire Their Own, Robert C. Boruchowitz

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Legal Financial Obligations: Fulfilling The Promise Of Gideon By Reducing The Burden, Travis Stearns

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Congress' Encroachment On The President's Power In Indian Law And Its Effect On Executive-Order Reservations, Mark R. Carter Jd, Phd

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Do We Have It Right This Time? An Analysis Of The Accomplishments And Shortcomings Of Washington's Indian Child Welfare Act, Karen Gray Young

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Table Annexed To Article: Secrecy Broken: Reports Of The Delegates Following The Federal Convention, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Despite the measures taken to ensure the secrecy of the proceedings during the federal convention, many delegates made reports to their states and explained the choices behind various clauses. However, no delegate had access to the official journal of the constitutional convention.

Table Annexed To Article: Congress And Parliament Deploy Appraisives (1801-1802), Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Parliament (primary text writer, the House of Commons) produced 24,647 words beginning in 1801; in in a comparable interval, Congress produced 27,123 words. By coincidence, this was the first year that Parliament served as the text-writer for the newly-minted United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Appraisives in the English language, numbering 3,683 have been tested against the Early Constitution. Appraisives in the Early Constitution, 2 OCL 193. This investigation tests the known class of appraisives in these target vocabularies employed by Congress and Parliament. Mean words between ‘hits’ are returned.

Reconciling Positivism And Realism: Kelsen And Habermas On Democracy And Human Rights, David Ingram

David Ingram

It is well known that Hans Kelsen and Jürgen Habermas invoke realist arguments drawn from social science in defending an international, democratic human rights regime against Carl Schmitt’s attack on the rule of law. However, despite embracing the realist spirit of Kelsen’s legal positivism, Habermas criticizes Kelsen for neglecting to connect the rule of law with a concept of procedural justice (Part I). I argue, to the contrary (Part II), that Kelsen does connect these terms, albeit in a manner that may be best described as functional, rather than conceptual. Indeed, whereas Habermas tends to emphasize a conceptual connection between …

Does Political Islam Conflict With Secular Democracy? Philosophical Reflections On Religion And Politics, David Ingram

David Ingram

Abstract: This paper rebuts the thesis that political Islam conflicts with secular democracy. More precisely, it examines three sorts of claims that ostensibly support this thesis: (a) The Muslim religion is incompatible with secular democracy; (b) No Muslim country has instituted secular democracy; and (c) No movement seeking to advance its agenda as aggressively as political Islam does can do so with the degree of moderation required of a political party that is committed to secular democracy. Theologians, philosophers, and political scientists have debated (a) through (c) within the jurisdiction of their respective fields. I propose to combine these debates …

Table Annexed To Article: Hamilton And Madison Deploy ‘Constitution’ In The Federalist Papers: Semantic Values Surveyed, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The eighty-five Federal Papers (authors James Madison and Alexander Hamilton; John Jay contributed five) are justifiably famous as elaborations of constitutional structure and text, sans citation to the convention, understandably, since secrecy imposed by Standing Order on May 28th was continued indefinitely (at the pleasure/non-action of Congress) on September 17th. Counts on semantic value/s of ‘constitution’ and ‘constitutional’ are surveyed.

A Detailed Breakdown Of Note-Takers Surveyed From Farrand’S Records Vols. 1 And 2 (1937), Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Eleven of the fifty-five delegates that attended the Federal Convention took notes during the proceedings. These notes, along with Jackson’s official journal and available committee drafts, are assembled in Farrand’s Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 at volumes 1 and 2. OCL provides a page-by-page breakdown of the text [of their notes] which appears in the Farrandian presentation.