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Full-Text Articles in Law
Is The Filibuster Constitutional?, Josh Chafetz, Michael J. Gerhardt
Is The Filibuster Constitutional?, Josh Chafetz, Michael J. Gerhardt
Josh Chafetz
With the help of the President, Democrats in Congress were able to pass historic healthcare-reform legislation in spite of - and thanks to - the significant structural obstacles presented by the Senate’s arcane parliamentary rules. After the passage of the bill, the current political climate appears to require sixty votes for the passage of any major legislation, a practice which many argue is unsustainable. In this Debate, Professors Josh Chafetz and Michael Gerhardt debate the constitutionality of the Senate’s cloture rules by looking to the history of those rules in the United States and elsewhere. Professor Chafetz argues that the …
The Unconstitutionality Of The Filibuster, Josh Chafetz
The Unconstitutionality Of The Filibuster, Josh Chafetz
Josh Chafetz
This Article, written for the Connecticut Law Review's 2010 "Is Our Constitutional Order Broken?" symposium, argues that the filibuster, as currently practiced, is unconstitutional.
After a brief introduction in Part I, Part II describes the current operation of the filibuster. Although the filibuster is often discussed in terms of "unlimited debate," this Part argues that its current operation is best understood in terms of a sixty-vote requirement to pass most bills and other measures through the Senate.
Part III presents a structural argument that this supermajority requirement for most Senate business is unconstitutional. This Part argues that the words "passed" …
Impeachment And Assassination, Josh Chafetz
Impeachment And Assassination, Josh Chafetz
Josh Chafetz
In 1998, the conservative provocateur Ann Coulter made waves when she wrote that President Clinton should be either impeached or assassinated. Coulter was roundly - and rightly - condemned for suggesting that the murder of the President might be justified, but her conceptual linking of presidential impeachment and assassination was not entirely unfounded. Indeed, Benjamin Franklin had made the same linkage over two hundred years earlier, when he noted at the Constitutional Convention that, historically, the removal of “obnoxious” chief executives had been accomplished by assassination. Franklin suggested that a proceduralized mechanism for removal - impeachment - would be preferable. …
Executive Branch Contempt Of Congress, Josh Chafetz
Executive Branch Contempt Of Congress, Josh Chafetz
Josh Chafetz
After former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten refused to comply with subpoenas issued by a congressional committee investigating the firing of a number of United States Attorneys, the House of Representatives voted in 2008 to hold them in contempt. The House then chose a curious method of enforcing its contempt citation: it filed a federal lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that Miers and Bolten were in contempt of Congress and an injunction ordering them to comply with the subpoenas. The district court ruled for the House, although that ruling was subsequently stayed …
The Illusory Eighth Amendment, John F. Stinneford
The Illusory Eighth Amendment, John F. Stinneford
John F. Stinneford
Although there is no obvious doctrinal connection between the Supreme Court’s Miranda jurisprudence and its Eighth Amendment excessive punishments jurisprudence, the two are deeply connected at the level of methodology. In both areas, the Supreme Court has been criticized for creating “prophylactic” rules that invalidate government actions because they create a mere risk of constitutional violation. In reality, however, both sets of rules deny constitutional protection to a far greater number of individuals with plausible claims of unconstitutional treatment than they protect. This dysfunctional combination of over- and underprotection arises from the Supreme Court’s use of implementation rules as a …
Punishment Without Culpability, John F. Stinneford
Punishment Without Culpability, John F. Stinneford
John F. Stinneford
For more than half a century, academic commentators have criticized the Supreme Court for failing to articulate a substantive constitutional conception of criminal law. Although the Court enforces various procedural protections that the Constitution provides for criminal defendants, it has left the question of what a crime is purely to the discretion of the legislature. This failure has permitted legislatures to evade the Constitution’s procedural protections by reclassifying crimes as civil causes of action, eliminating key elements (such as mens rea) or reclassifying them as defenses or sentencing factors, and authorizing severe punishments for crimes traditionally considered relatively minor. The …
The Constitution According To Justices Scalia And Thomas: Alive And Kickin', Eric J. Segall
The Constitution According To Justices Scalia And Thomas: Alive And Kickin', Eric J. Segall
Eric J. Segall
No abstract provided.
Politics And Public Sector Employees: What's Gone Wrong With The Relationship Between Ministers And Public Servants - Why It Matters, And What Needs To Be Done To Fix It, Matthew S. R. Palmer Qc
Politics And Public Sector Employees: What's Gone Wrong With The Relationship Between Ministers And Public Servants - Why It Matters, And What Needs To Be Done To Fix It, Matthew S. R. Palmer Qc
The Hon Justice Matthew Palmer
Who Speaks For The ‘People’ On Policy?, Alan E. Garfield
Who Speaks For The ‘People’ On Policy?, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Are ‘We The People’ Meeting Our Responsibilities?, Alan E. Garfield
Are ‘We The People’ Meeting Our Responsibilities?, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Section 1983 Civil Rights Litigation In The October 2005 Term, Martin Schwartz
Section 1983 Civil Rights Litigation In The October 2005 Term, Martin Schwartz
Martin A. Schwartz
No abstract provided.
Table Annexed To Article: Hamilton And Madison Deploy ‘System’ In Works Dated To 1787/88, 1790/91, 1793 And Post-Retirement Works, Peter J. Aschenbrenner
Table Annexed To Article: Hamilton And Madison Deploy ‘System’ In Works Dated To 1787/88, 1790/91, 1793 And Post-Retirement Works, Peter J. Aschenbrenner
Peter J. Aschenbrenner
The deployment of the word ‘system’ is surveyed, beginning with The Federalist essays, the focus being on the works of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. In the second tranche of works, their efforts – now as opponents – in the bank bill debate are examined along with the appearance of ‘system’ in the Neutrality Proclamation debates; in the third tranche, Hamilton’s public letters (from his retirement as Secretary of the Treasury to his death in 1804) are surveyed; the fourth consists of Madison’s works included in Farrand’s volume 3 of his Records of the Federal Convention.
Nonprofits, Speech, And Unconstitutional Conditions, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer
Nonprofits, Speech, And Unconstitutional Conditions, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer
Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer
This Article proposes a new constitutional framework for approaching the issue of speech-related conditions on government funding accepted by nonprofits and demonstrates its application by reviewing the Court’s landmark decisions in this area. It argues that speech rights are generally inalienable as against the government under the First Amendment, and therefore any abridgement of such rights by the government—whether direct or indirect—is subject to strict scrutiny. As a result, the government is not permitted to buy an organization’s speech absent a compelling governmental interest in doing so and then only if the purchase is done in a manner that is …
The Interpretation Of Constitutional History, Or Charles Beard Becomes A Fortuneteller (With An Emphasis On Free Expression), Stephen M. Feldman
The Interpretation Of Constitutional History, Or Charles Beard Becomes A Fortuneteller (With An Emphasis On Free Expression), Stephen M. Feldman
Stephen M. Feldman
In "An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States", Charles A. Beard argued that the framers advocated for and defended the Constitution because of their personal economic interest, that the pursuit of common good was not so much a motive as a veneer. The current historical consensus is that Beard's thrust is incorrect. In this essay, I largely agree with this assessment, but his economic approach can add an important element to the discussion of constitutional history. And though his economic depiction does not closely fit the framing of the Constitution, it uncannily fits the Roberts Court's current …
Table Annexed To Article: Madison Deploys 'Constitution' (After March, 1817), Peter J. Aschenbrenner
Table Annexed To Article: Madison Deploys 'Constitution' (After March, 1817), Peter J. Aschenbrenner
Peter J. Aschenbrenner
The third volume of Farrand’s Records of the Federal Convention contains 58 entries written by James Madison after March 3, 1817, almost entirely of public correspondence; OCL adds his Detached Memoranda (his second political testament) to these post-retirement writings. OCL spreads Madison’s deployment of ‘constitution’ through an expanded 11 way grid of the possible semantic values.
Presidential Legislation In India: The Law And Practice Of Ordinances, Shubhankar Dam
Presidential Legislation In India: The Law And Practice Of Ordinances, Shubhankar Dam
Shubhankar Dam
India has a parliamentary system. Yet the president has authority to occasionally enact legislation (or ordinances) without involving parliament. This book is a study of ordinances at the national level in India, centred around three themes. First, it tells the story of how an artefact of British constitutional history, over time, became part of India’s legislative system. Second, it offers an empirical account of the ways in which presidents have resorted to ordinances in post-independence India. Third, the book analyses a range of ordinance-related questions, including some that are yet to be judicially adjudicated. In the process, the book explains …
Respecting Democratic Constitutional Change, Craig M. Scott
Respecting Democratic Constitutional Change, Craig M. Scott
Craig M. Scott