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Full-Text Articles in Law
“Reasoning-Lite” In The Violent Video Game Case, Alan Garfield
“Reasoning-Lite” In The Violent Video Game Case, Alan Garfield
Alan E Garfield
One might have expected that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the violent video game case, Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass’n, would have been a thoughtful balancing of society’s competing interests in protecting freedom of speech and protecting children from harm. After all, the Supreme Court had held decades earlier that the government could deny minors access to soft-porn, or what the Court called “girlie magazines.” So one could have assumed the Court would seriously consider California’s claim that minors also needed sheltering from the grittier world of violent video game rapes, beheadings, and ethnic cleansings. Yet, as Justice Scalia’s …
The Constitutionality Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act In The Courts Of Appeals, Mel Cousins
The Constitutionality Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act In The Courts Of Appeals, Mel Cousins
Mel Cousins
Having undergone an extensive process of political discussion and debate, the ACA (properly the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) is now under intensive legal challenge with over 20 different cases from both states and organizations and individuals having been initiated. The challengers argue that the Act lacks a constitutional basis and/or infringes on their constitutional rights. These cases involve a fascinating intersection of legal, political and policy issues and, regardless of the outcome, will have important implications for the future direction of US health care policy. There have now been four decisions of the courts of appeal on the …
Perfectly Legal To Mandate The Purchase Of Insurance, Alan E. Garfield
Perfectly Legal To Mandate The Purchase Of Insurance, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Church Autonomy Versus Civil Rights, Alan E. Garfield
Church Autonomy Versus Civil Rights, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Pennsylvania Constitutional Conventions: Discarding The Myths, John Gedid
Pennsylvania Constitutional Conventions: Discarding The Myths, John Gedid
John L. Gedid
No abstract provided.
Aep V. Connecticut And The Future Of The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May
Aep V. Connecticut And The Future Of The Political Question Doctrine, James R. May
James R. May
No abstract provided.
The Constitution And Economic Policy, Alan E. Garfield
The Constitution And Economic Policy, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Constitutional Environmental Rights Worldwide, James May, Erin Daly
Constitutional Environmental Rights Worldwide, James May, Erin Daly
Erin Daly
No abstract provided.
Due Process And Fundamental Rights, Martin A. Schwartz
Due Process And Fundamental Rights, Martin A. Schwartz
Martin A. Schwartz
No abstract provided.
Jewish Legal Theory And American Constitutional Theory: Some Comparisons And Contrasts, Samuel J. Levine
Jewish Legal Theory And American Constitutional Theory: Some Comparisons And Contrasts, Samuel J. Levine
Samuel J. Levine
In this article, Levine explores some of the ways in which Jewish law may shed light on issues in American constitutional theory. While acknowledging that there are fundamental differences between a religious legal system and a secular one, he attempts to show that certain conceptual similarities between American law and Jewish law allow for meaningful yet cautious comparison of the two systems. Part I provides a broad historical and analytical overview of interpretation in Jewish law. Part II of the Article offers a specific conceptual framework for comparing Jewish law with American law. Levine considers questions of flexibility in legal …
Why Should A President Have To Be A Natural-Born Citizen, Alan E. Garfield
Why Should A President Have To Be A Natural-Born Citizen, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Constitutional Limitations On Land Use Controls, Environmental Regulations And Governmental Exactions (2011 Edition), Garrett Power
Constitutional Limitations On Land Use Controls, Environmental Regulations And Governmental Exactions (2011 Edition), Garrett Power
Garrett Power
This electronic book is published in a searchable PDF format as a part of the E-scholarship Repository of the University of Maryland School of Law. It is an “open content” casebook intended for classroom use in courses in Land Use Control, Environmental Law and Constitutional Law. It consists of cases carefully selected from the two hundred years of American constitutional history which address the clash between public sovereignty and private property. It considers both the personal right to liberty and the personal right in property. The text consists of non-copyrighted material and readers are free to use it or re-mix …
Court's Ruling Fiercely Un-Madisonian, Alan E. Garfield
Court's Ruling Fiercely Un-Madisonian, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Lee V. Weisman: Whither The Establishment Clause And The Lemon V. Kurtzman Three Pronged Test?, Thomas A. Schweitzer
Lee V. Weisman: Whither The Establishment Clause And The Lemon V. Kurtzman Three Pronged Test?, Thomas A. Schweitzer
Thomas A. Schweitzer
No abstract provided.
Recent Developments At The Juncture Of The Political Question Doctrine And Climate Litigation Law, James R. May
Recent Developments At The Juncture Of The Political Question Doctrine And Climate Litigation Law, James R. May
James R. May
This short essay does three things. First, it provides a primer on the most recent case developments at the juncture of the climate litigation and the political question doctrine. Second, it hazards some discussion about how the Supreme Court might engage the political question issue in Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co., Civ. Action No. 10-174. It ends with some concluding thoughts about the impact that litigation has on climate policy.
Conservative Justices Fail To See Corrupting Influence Of Money, Alan E. Garfield
Conservative Justices Fail To See Corrupting Influence Of Money, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
New Directions In Earth Rights, Environmental Rights And Human Rights: Six Facets Of Constitutionally Embedded Environmental Rights Worldwide, James May, Erin Daly
New Directions In Earth Rights, Environmental Rights And Human Rights: Six Facets Of Constitutionally Embedded Environmental Rights Worldwide, James May, Erin Daly
Erin Daly
This essay provides an overview of the worldwide phenomenon of constitutional environmental rights. Since the Stockholm Convention, nearly 60 countries have constitutionally entrenched environmental rights, according their citizens basic rights to environmental quality in one form or another. The list is diverse politically, including countries with civil, common law, Islamic, and other traditions. Some of the more recent of these include Kenya in 2010, Ecuador in 2007, France in 2005, Afghanistan in 2004, and South Africa in 1996. As a result, domestic courts and international tribunals are enforcing constitutionally enshrined environmental rights with growing frequency, reflecting basic human rights to …
Leave Health Care Law's Validity Up To Voters, Alan E. Garfield
Leave Health Care Law's Validity Up To Voters, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Honest Debate At Core Of Constitution, Alan E. Garfield
Honest Debate At Core Of Constitution, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Dignity In The Service Of Democracy, Erin Daly
Dignity In The Service Of Democracy, Erin Daly
Erin Daly
At a broad level, perhaps the most noticeable trend in Latin American constitutional law is the increasing muscularity of constitutional tribunals. Throughout the region, particularly in South America, tribunals charged with interpreting their country’s constitution are increasingly asserting themselves and inserting themselves into public controversies, from abortion to same sex marriage to the rights of political association. This heightened judicial activity can come at a cost to democracy: typically, the more social issues are decided by unelected and unaccountable judges rather than through a political process, the less the people control the resolution of those issues. The more outcomes are …
Thin Line Between Fighting Crime, Respecting Rights, Alan E. Garfield
Thin Line Between Fighting Crime, Respecting Rights, Alan E. Garfield
Alan E Garfield
No abstract provided.
Human Dignity In The Roberts Court: A Story Of Inchoate Institutions, Autonomous Individuals, And The Reluctant Recognition Of A Right, Erin Daly
Erin Daly
Throughout its history, the Supreme Court has assumed that dignity is relevant to constitutional interpretation, though it has rarely considered exactly how. In the post-war years, the Court (like its counterparts around the world) found that human dignity underlay many individual rights, and in the 1990s, the Court's federalism jurisprudence found that the dignity of states immunized them from most lawsuits in both state and federal courts. This article examines the Court's past references to dignity and argues that the conception of dignity that is evoked in the federalism cases -- which focus, at root, on the autonomy of the …
Irrational Women: Informed Consent And Abortion Regret, Maya Manian
Irrational Women: Informed Consent And Abortion Regret, Maya Manian
Maya Manian
This chapter explores the law’s failure in the twenty-first century to treat pregnant women as capable of making their own decisions concerning whether to have an abortion. The Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Gonzales v. Carhart, which upheld a federal ban on a type of second-trimester abortion that many physicians believe is safest for their patients, brought the question of women’s capacity for abortion decision-making to the forefront of public legal consciousness. In Carhart, the Court abandoned its previous deference and respect for a woman’s right to be her own decision-maker with regard to abortion and instead determined that a …
Should Pennsylvania Amend Its Constitution? The Pennsylvania Bar Association Considers Calls For Reform, John Gedid
Should Pennsylvania Amend Its Constitution? The Pennsylvania Bar Association Considers Calls For Reform, John Gedid
John L. Gedid
No abstract provided.
All Things In Proportion? American Rights Doctrine And The Problem Of Balancing, Alec Stone Sweet
All Things In Proportion? American Rights Doctrine And The Problem Of Balancing, Alec Stone Sweet
Alec Stone Sweet
No abstract provided.
Severability Of Statutes, Tom Campbell
Severability Of Statutes, Tom Campbell
Tom Campbell
Courts legislate when they engage in "severability analysis", allowing part of a law to continue in force, after having struck down other parts as unconstitutional. This is flawed for the same reason that the legislative veto and the executive line-item veto are flawed. All involve creating a legislative outcome without the joint approval of both houses and the executive. The practice derives from an analogy to contract enforcement, where a court will try to preserve part of a contract when the rest is unenforceable. However, the analogy is imperfect because Congress and the state legislature remain in a position to …