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An Interpretivist Agenda, Gary S. Lawson
An Interpretivist Agenda, Gary S. Lawson
Faculty Scholarship
As I write these words, bevies of law clerks assigned to cases involving the Bill of Rights are dutifully editing their bench memos for publication in the national reporter system. Once printed, these bench memos will be solemnly treated by lawyers, scholars, other law clerks, and the occasional judge who runs across them as legally significant, or even binding, interpretations of the Constitution. Two features of this burgeoning mass of otherwise unpublishable law review comments bear mention. First, most of them are tedious, tendentious, pretentious, and badly reasoned when reasoned at all, just as one would expect from authors who …
Foreword: The Constitution Of Responsibility, Steven G. Calabresi, Gary S. Lawson
Foreword: The Constitution Of Responsibility, Steven G. Calabresi, Gary S. Lawson
Faculty Scholarship
The American legal academy is decidedly nationalistic. Comparative law tends to be a minor part of the law school curriculum, and discussion of alternative legal systems almost never finds its way into mainstream courses like constitutional law. As a result, much that is distinctive about American constitutionalism, and the American legal system in general, is often taken for granted. The federal Constitution, for example, says much about governmental structure, power, and limitations, but virtually nothing about the obligations of citizens to one another or to the government.' This feature of the American Constitution starkly sets it apart from many of …
Equity And Hierarchy: Reflections On The Harris Execution, Steven Calabresi, Gary S. Lawson
Equity And Hierarchy: Reflections On The Harris Execution, Steven Calabresi, Gary S. Lawson
Faculty Scholarship
The legal controversy surrounding the execution of Robert Alton Harris is only one in a series of cases over the past few months testing the proper relationship between the Supreme Court and the inferior federal courts. Controversy over inferior federal court grants or denials of injunctions concerning Haitian refugees1 and the French abortion pill2 have starkly raised, as does the Harris case3, profound questions concerning Supreme Court review of inferior court rulings on issues involving equitable relief. The Harris case did not display the American legal system at its finest. None of the participants in the process distinguished themselves-not the …