Fourteenth Amendment Commons^™

In 1999, the Supreme Court invoked state sovereign immunity to strike down provisions in the patent and trademark laws purporting to hold states liable for the infringement of these intellectual properties. These decisions ignited a series of criticisms, including allegations that sovereign immunity gives states an unfair advantage in the exercise of state-owned patent rights.

In particular, critics alleged two unfair advantages to state patentees. First, they alleged that states would favorably manipulate litigation. Second, they alleged that states would use their immunity from challenge to obtain broad patents or force private parties into licensing arrangements. An empirical study focusing …

The nature and scope of the rights protected by the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments are among the most debated topics in all of constitutional law. At the core of this debate is the question of whether these clauses should be understood to protect only “procedural” rights, such as notice and the opportunity for a hearing, or whether the due process guarantee should be understood to encompass certain “substantive” protections as well. An important though little explored assumption shared by participants on both sides of this debate is that the answer to the substantive due process …