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The People Or The State?: Chisholm V. Georgia And Popular Sovereignty, Randy E. Barnett
The People Or The State?: Chisholm V. Georgia And Popular Sovereignty, Randy E. Barnett
Georgetown Law Faculty Lectures and Appearances
Chisholm v. Georgia was the first great constitutional case decided by the Supreme Court. In Chisholm, the Court addressed the fundamental question: Who is Sovereign? The People or the State? It adopted an individual concept of popular sovereignty rather than the modern view that limits popular sovereignty to collective or democratic self-government. It denied that the State of Georgia was a sovereign entitled, like the King of England, to assert immunity from a lawsuit brought by a private citizen. Despite all this, Chisholm is not among the canon of cases that all law students are taught. Why not? In this …
Impeachment: Advice And Dissent, Susan Low Bloch
Impeachment: Advice And Dissent, Susan Low Bloch
Georgetown Law Faculty Lectures and Appearances
In this lecture, the author describes how she first met Professor William Van Alstyne at a Federalist Society debate at Wayne State Law School in Detroit. Their colleague, the late Professor Joe Grano, had invited them to discuss whether one can sue a sitting president. Of course, this debate was not merely academic. Paula Jones had begun her sexual harassment suit against President Clinton and the suit was on its way to the Supreme Court. They got together before the debate and walked around the campus. The author thought that the president could not be sued while in office. Although …