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Full-Text Articles in Law

Recovering The Lost General Welfare Clause, David S. Schwartz Feb 2022

Recovering The Lost General Welfare Clause, David S. Schwartz

William & Mary Law Review

The General Welfare Clause of Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution enumerates a power to “provide for the common defense and general welfare.” A literal interpretation of this clause (“the general welfare interpretation”) would authorize Congress to legislate for any national purpose, and therefore to address all national problems— for example, the COVID-19 pandemic—in ways that would be precluded under the prevailing understanding of limited enumerated powers. But conventional doctrine rejects the general welfare interpretation and construes the General Welfare Clause to confer the so-called “Spending Power,” a power only to spend, but not to regulate, for …


Being Seen Like A State: How Americans (And Britons) Built The Constitutional Infrastructure Of A Developing Nation, Daniel J. Hulsebosch Mar 2018

Being Seen Like A State: How Americans (And Britons) Built The Constitutional Infrastructure Of A Developing Nation, Daniel J. Hulsebosch

William & Mary Law Review

This Article develops the argument that the Federal Constitution of 1787 was conceptualized, drafted, and put into operation not only for American citizens but also for foreign audiences. In a world without supranational governing institutions, a constitution—at least, the Federal Constitution—might serve to promote peaceable international relations based on reciprocal trade and open credit. That at least was the Enlightenment-inflected hope.

Did it work? If early Americans engaged in constitution-making in large part to demonstrate their capacity for self-government, selfdiscipline, and commercial openness to foreign audiences, did anyone notice? Or was it all, regardless of diplomatic purposes and consistent with …


The Jury As A Political Institution: An Internal Perspective, Robert P. Burns Mar 2014

The Jury As A Political Institution: An Internal Perspective, Robert P. Burns

William & Mary Law Review

In this Essay, I will briefly describe some of the more obvious ways in which the jury has been considered a political institution. I will then discuss the senses in which we can understand the term “political” in the context of the American jury trial. I will describe the senses in which Hannah Arendt, perhaps the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century, tried to distinguish between “the political” and the “the legal” and the limitations of any such distinction. I will then turn to the heart of this Essay, a description of the ways in which the American …


Restoring The Civil Jury's Role In The Structure Of Our Government, Sheldon Whitehouse Mar 2014

Restoring The Civil Jury's Role In The Structure Of Our Government, Sheldon Whitehouse

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Brandeis Gambit: The Making Of America's "First Freedom," 1909-1931, Bradley C. Bobertz Feb 1999

The Brandeis Gambit: The Making Of America's "First Freedom," 1909-1931, Bradley C. Bobertz

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.


Book Review Of Legacy Of Suppression, James P. Whyte Jr. Mar 1962

Book Review Of Legacy Of Suppression, James P. Whyte Jr.

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.