Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Jurisprudence (3)
- Supreme Court of the United States (3)
- Constitution (2)
- Interpretation (2)
- Justiciability (2)
-
- SCOTUS (2)
- Supreme Court (2)
- Appointment (1)
- Branches of government (1)
- Budget (1)
- Budget crisis (1)
- Byron White (1)
- Commonwealth of Kentucky (1)
- Communis opinion (1)
- Constitutional law (1)
- Constitutional theory (1)
- Constitutionality (1)
- Court (1)
- Decision-making (1)
- Decisions (1)
- Executive branch (1)
- Executive spending plan (1)
- External norms (1)
- Federalism (1)
- Formalism (1)
- Formalist (1)
- Funding (1)
- General Assembly (1)
- Government (1)
- Governor (1)
Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Courts
Resorting To External Norms And Principles In Constitutional Decision-Making, Alvin L. Goldman
Resorting To External Norms And Principles In Constitutional Decision-Making, Alvin L. Goldman
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
Given the very significant role of constitutional law in the American political system and the fact that Supreme Court Justices are appointed through a political process, it is understandable that the appropriate judicial approach to resolving constitutional issues often is the subject of political commentary. Unfortunately, discourse by politicians concerning this issue seldom rises to the deserved level of wisdom. One of President George W. Bush's public mantras is illustrative of political commentary respecting federal judicial appointments: "I'm going to put strict constructionists on the bench." On its face, and as understood by politically naive audiences, the statement appears to …
The Constitutionality Of An Executive Spending Plan, Paul E. Salamanca
The Constitutionality Of An Executive Spending Plan, Paul E. Salamanca
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
Operation of government in the absence of appropriations has become relatively common in the United States, particularly when projected expenses exceed projected revenue, making adoption of a budget a difficult task for the legislature. This Article focuses on the budget crisis in the Commonwealth of Kentucky from 2002 through 2003. In Part I, this Article recapitulates the history of the spending plan, including the action filed in Franklin Circuit Court to affirm its constitutionality. In Part II, this Article discusses certain theoretical, historical, and legal principles that inform analysis of the plan. In Part III, it considers certain deviations and …
Communis Opinio And The Methods Of Statutory Interpretation: Interpreting Law Or Changing Law, Michael P. Healy
Communis Opinio And The Methods Of Statutory Interpretation: Interpreting Law Or Changing Law, Michael P. Healy
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
Interpretive methodology lies at the core of the Supreme Court's persistent modern debate about statutory interpretation. Supreme Court Justices have applied two fundamentally different methods of interpretation. One is the formalist method, which seeks to promote rule-of-law values and purports to constrain the discretion of judges by limiting them to the autonomous legal text. The second is the nonformalist or antiformalist method, which may consider the legislature's intent or purpose or other evidence as context for understanding the statutory text. The debate within the current Court is commonly framed and advanced by Justices Stevens and Scalia. Justice Scalia is now …
"I Vote This Way Because I'M Wrong": The Supreme Court Justice As Epimenides, John M. Rogers
"I Vote This Way Because I'M Wrong": The Supreme Court Justice As Epimenides, John M. Rogers
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
Possibly the most unsettling phenomenon in the Supreme Court's 1988 term was Justice White's decision to vote contrary to his own exhaustively stated reasoning in Pennsylvania v. Union Gas Co. His unexplained decision to vote against the result of his own analysis lends support to those who argue that law, or at least constitutional law, is fundamentally indeterminate. Proponents of the indeterminacy argument sometimes base their position on the allegedly inescapable inconsistency of decisions made by a multi-member court. There is an answer to the inconsistency argument, but it founders if justices sometimes vote, without explanation, on the basis of …