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Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Legal History

John Mccain's Citizenship: A Tentative Defense, Stephen E. Sachs Aug 2008

John Mccain's Citizenship: A Tentative Defense, Stephen E. Sachs

Stephen E. Sachs

Sen. John McCain was born a U.S. citizen and is eligible to be president. The most serious challenge to his status, recently posed by Prof. Gabriel Chin, contends that the statute granting citizenship to Americans born abroad did not include the Panama Canal Zone, where McCain was born in 1936. When Congress amended the law in 1937, he concludes, it was too late for McCain to be "natural born." Even assuming, however, that McCain's citizenship depended on this statute - and ignoring his claim to citizenship at common law - Chin's argument may be based on a misreading. When the …


Sacrifice And Civic Membership: Who Earns Rights, And When?, Julie Novkov May 2008

Sacrifice And Civic Membership: Who Earns Rights, And When?, Julie Novkov

Julie Novkov

This paper considers two moments that scholars generally agree featured advances for African Americans’ citizenship – the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and World War II and its immediate aftermath – and reads these moments through lenses of race and gender. I consider the conjunction of acknowledged sacrifices and contributions to the state, the rights advances achieved, and the gendered and racialized conceptions of citizen service emerging out of both post-war periods. This conjunction suggests that the kind of citizenship that people of color gained during and after wartime crises depended upon gendered and racialized hierarchies that valued …


The “Institutional Turn” In Jurisprudence: Critique And Reconstruction., Andres Palacios Lleras Jan 2008

The “Institutional Turn” In Jurisprudence: Critique And Reconstruction., Andres Palacios Lleras

Andrés Palacios Lleras

This paper engages in a inquiry into the roles that courts play within the legal system, given that judges are interdependent interpreters of legal rules that are boundedly rational and, arguably, politically biased. Contemporary authors claim that, although these two conditions play an important role in interpretation, contemporary theories in jurisprudence have not addressed them properly. Their assessments raise legal issues that are very significant; given the fact that judges are boundedly rational and tend to display political biases, how should they interpret legal rules? Is it best for them to interpret these rules in a formalist fashion, without resorting …


The Indeterminate Side Of Constitutions As Precommitment Strategies, Andres Palacios Lleras Jan 2008

The Indeterminate Side Of Constitutions As Precommitment Strategies, Andres Palacios Lleras

Andrés Palacios Lleras

This paper engages in a time-honored inquiry in American jurisprudence, an inquiry which continues to be invigorated by contemporary studies in Constitutional Law. It is an inquiry into the determinacy of the American Constitution as a legal text, taking into account that it was drafted and approved more than two hundred years ago with the purpose, arguably, to organize present and future political decision-making. Some contemporary authors claim that the discussion about the role of the Constitution is muddled, and that to acknowledge its authority does not necessarily entail a theory of constitutional interpretation. Furthermore, other authors have claimed that …


Women At Work: Towards An Inclusive Narrative Of The Rise Of The Regulatory State, Arianne Renan Barzilay Dr. Jan 2008

Women At Work: Towards An Inclusive Narrative Of The Rise Of The Regulatory State, Arianne Renan Barzilay Dr.

Arianne Renan Barzilay Dr. (J.S.D., New York University School of Law)

Abstract: This Article seeks to enrich what we know about the establishment of the regulatory state. It focuses on women’s contribution to the rise of the American regulatory apparatus. By looking at historical sources and archival materials, this Article illustrates how women reformers were central to the development of the regulatory state and how they were guided by an ideology that called for government regulation to provide decent standards of living. Through the example of the establishment of the Women’s Bureau in the U.S. Department of Labor, the Article expands our understanding of the purposes of administrative bodies, and it …


Why John Mccain Was A Citizen At Birth, Stephen E. Sachs Jan 2008

Why John Mccain Was A Citizen At Birth, Stephen E. Sachs

Stephen E. Sachs

Senator John McCain was born a citizen in 1936. Professor Gabriel J. Chin challenges this view in this Symposium, arguing that McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone (while his father was stationed there by the Navy) fell into a loophole in the governing statute. The best historical evidence, however, suggests that this loophole is an illusion and that McCain is a "natural born Citizen" eligible to be president.


The Civil War As A War Of Religion: A Cautionary Tale Of Enslavement And Emancipation, David M. Smolin Jan 2008

The Civil War As A War Of Religion: A Cautionary Tale Of Enslavement And Emancipation, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This article argues that the Civil War was a "war of religion" reflecting differing nineteenth century American Christian views of slavery and race. The article describes the religious anti-slavery and pro-slavery arguments of that time. The article particularly focuses on John Bingham, who as the primary author of Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment, is a particularly important figure for United States constitutional law. The article also discusses the contemporary anti-trafficking movement which explicitly seeks to rely on the precedent of the historical movement to abolish slavery.


Dhimmitude And Disarmament, David B. Kopel Jan 2008

Dhimmitude And Disarmament, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

Under shari'a law, non-Muslims, known as dhimmi, have been forbidden to possess arms, and to defend themselves from attacks by Muslims. The disarmament is one aspect of the pervasive civil inferiority of non-Muslims, a status known as dhimmitude. This Essay examines the historical effects of the shari'a disarmament, based on three books by Bat Ye'or, the world's leading scholar of dhimmitude. As Ye'or details, the disarmament had catastrophic consequences, extending far beyond the direct loss of the dhimmi's ability to defend themselves. The essay concludes by observing how pretend gun-free zones on college campuses turn the adults there into 21st …


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.