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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Law
Do Your Job: Judicial Review Of Occupational Licensing In The Face Of Economic Protectionism, Nicole A. Weeks
Do Your Job: Judicial Review Of Occupational Licensing In The Face Of Economic Protectionism, Nicole A. Weeks
Vanderbilt Law Review
Despite efforts to challenge certain occupational licensing schemes as impermissibly driven by naked economic protectionism, federal appellate courts disagree on the legitimacy owed to the protectionist motivations that commonly prompt these regulations. To eliminate the current confusion, this Note advocates for the application of rational-basis-with-judicial-engagement review. The Supreme Court has demonstrated a willingness to engage in such analysis before-in both its animus jurisprudence over the past decades and more recently in its meticulous cost-benefit inquiry in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt-thereby weakening its claims of incompetence in evaluating the motivations of lawmakers. To avoid hindering the economic well being of …
Reverse Political Process Theory, Aaron Tang
Reverse Political Process Theory, Aaron Tang
Vanderbilt Law Review
Despite occasional suggestions to the contrary, the Supreme Court has long since stopped interpreting the Constitution to afford special protection to certain groups on the ground that they are powerless to defend their own interests in the political process. From a series of decisions reviewing laws that burden whites under the same strict scrutiny as laws that burden racial minorities, to the more recent same-sex marriage decision based principally on the fundamental nature of marriage (rather than the political status of gays and lesbians), it is now an uncontroversial observation that when it comes to applying the open-textured provisions of …
"Plausible Cause": Explanatory Standards In The Age Of Powerful Machines, Kiel Brennan-Marquez
"Plausible Cause": Explanatory Standards In The Age Of Powerful Machines, Kiel Brennan-Marquez
Vanderbilt Law Review
Much scholarship in law and political science has long understood the U.S. Supreme Court to be the "apex" court in the federal judicial system, and so to relate hierarchically to "lower" federal courts. On that top-down view, exemplified by the work of Alexander Bickel and many subsequent scholars, the Court is the principal, and lower federal courts are its faithful agents. Other scholarship takes a bottom-up approach, viewing lower federal courts as faithless agents or analyzing the "percolation" of issues in those courts before the Court decides. This Article identifies circumstances in which the relationship between the Court and other …
The Jurisdiction Canon, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl
The Jurisdiction Canon, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl
Vanderbilt Law Review
This Article concerns the interpretation of jurisdictional statutes. The fundamental postulate of the law of the federal courts is that the federal courts are courts of limited subject-matter jurisdiction. That principle is reinforced by a canon of statutory interpretation according to which statutes conferring federal subject-matter jurisdiction are to be construed narrowly, with ambiguities resolved against the availability of federal jurisdiction. This interpretive canon is over a century old and has been recited in thousands of federal cases, but its future has become uncertain. The Supreme Court recently stated that the canon does not apply to many of today's most …
The Free Exercise Of Religious Identity, Lauren Sudeall
The Free Exercise Of Religious Identity, Lauren Sudeall
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In recent years, a particular strain of argument has arisen in response to decisions by courts or the government to extend certain rights to others. Grounded in religious freedom, these arguments suggest that individuals have a right to operate businesses or conduct their professional roles in a manner that conforms to their religious identity. For example, as courts and legislatures have extended the right to marry to same-sex couples, court clerks have refused to issue marriage certificates to such couples, claiming that to do so would violate their religious beliefs. Similarly, corporations have refused, for reasons grounded in religious identity, …
Scalia In The Casebooks, Brian T. Fitzpatrick, Paulson K. Varghese
Scalia In The Casebooks, Brian T. Fitzpatrick, Paulson K. Varghese
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
In the time since Justice Antonin Scalia’s untimely death, much has been written about what his influence has been and what his influence will be. In this Essay, we try to quantify Scalia’s influence in law school constitutional-law curricula by studying how often his ideas are explored in constitutional-law casebooks. In particular, relative to other justices, we look at how often Scalia’s opinions (for the Court, or his separate opinions) are excerpted in the principal cases and how often he is referred to by name in the notes preceding and following the principal cases. We find that Scalia is at …
The Inference From Authority To Interpretive Method In Constitutional And Statutory Domains, Kevin M. Stack
The Inference From Authority To Interpretive Method In Constitutional And Statutory Domains, Kevin M. Stack
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Should courts interpret the Constitution as they interpret statutes? This question has been answered in a wide variety of ways. On the one hand, many scholars and jurists understand constitutional and statutory interpretation as largely overlapping, continuous, or converging. For some, this overlap follows directly from the Constitution's status as a form of legislated law. In this way of thinking, because the Constitution, like a statute, was bargained over and formally adopted, it should be interpreted in accordance with general principles applicable to legislated law. Proponents of this view argue that if constitutional interpretation appears distinctive in practice, that is …
The Constitutional Ratchet Effect, Kevin M. Stack
The Constitutional Ratchet Effect, Kevin M. Stack
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Making Preemption Less Palatable: State Poison Pill Legislation, Robert A. Mikos
Making Preemption Less Palatable: State Poison Pill Legislation, Robert A. Mikos
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Congressional preemption constitutes perhaps the single greatest threat to state power and to the values served thereby. Given the structural incentives now in place, there is little to deter Congress from preempting state law, even when the state interests Congress displaces far exceed its own. The threat of preemption has raised alarms across the political spectrum, but no one has yet devised a satisfactory way to balance state and federal interests in preemption disputes. This Article devises a novel solution: state poison pill legislation. Borrowing a page from corporate law, poison pill legislation would enable the states to make preemption …