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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Law
“God” Is Just Another Word, Bruce Ledewitz
“God” Is Just Another Word, Bruce Ledewitz
Ledewitz Papers
Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals
Rebuilding The Wall Of Separation: A Progressive Discussion On Church & State, Bruce Ledewitz
Rebuilding The Wall Of Separation: A Progressive Discussion On Church & State, Bruce Ledewitz
Ledewitz Papers
Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.
When Common Interests Are Not Common: Why The Global Basic Structure Should Be Democratic, Andreas Føllesdal
When Common Interests Are Not Common: Why The Global Basic Structure Should Be Democratic, Andreas Føllesdal
Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies
The global constitution-the fundamental international norms and structures that serve constitutional functions-should include mechanisms of democratic contestation and accountability. This central claim of global constitutionalism faces three objections extrapolated from arguments made by Andrew Moravcsik and Giandomenico Majone in debates about the democratic deficit of the European Union (EU): the global constitution only regulates issues of low salience for citizens; democratic control is explicitly counter to the self-binding system that international regulations aim to achieve; and the EU's track record suggests that democratic control at the international level may be unnecessary to ensure congruence between voters' preferences and actual regulations. …
The Countermajoritarian Difficulty: From Courts To Congress To Constitutional Order, Mark A. Graber
The Countermajoritarian Difficulty: From Courts To Congress To Constitutional Order, Mark A. Graber
Mark Graber
This review documents how scholarly concern with democratic deficits in American constitutionalism has shifted from the courts to electoral institutions. Prominent political scientists are increasingly rejecting the countermajoritarian difficulty as the proper framework for studying and evaluating judicial power. Political scientists, who study Congress and the presidency, however, have recently emphasized countermajoritarian difficulties with electoral institutions. Realistic normative appraisals of American political institutions, this emerging literature on constitutional politics in the United States maintains, should begin by postulating a set of democratic and constitutional goods, determine the extent to which American institutions as a whole are delivering those goods, and …
The Myth Of The Written Constitution, Todd E. Pettys
The Myth Of The Written Constitution, Todd E. Pettys
Todd E. Pettys
Many Americans have long subscribed to what this Article calls the myth of the written constitution—the claim that the nation’s Constitution consists entirely of those texts that the sovereign American people have formally ratified, and the claim that the will of the American people, as expressed in those ratified texts, determines the way in which properly behaving judges resolve constitutional disputes. Drawing on two different meanings of the term myth, this Article contends that neither of those claims is literally true, but that Americans’ attachment to those claims serves at least three crucial functions. Subscribing to the myth helps to …
Charles Taylor And The Future Of Secularism, Bruce Ledewitz
Charles Taylor And The Future Of Secularism, Bruce Ledewitz
Ledewitz Papers
Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.
Could Government Speech Endorsing A Higher Law Resolve The Establishment Clause Crisis?, Bruce Ledewitz
Could Government Speech Endorsing A Higher Law Resolve The Establishment Clause Crisis?, Bruce Ledewitz
Ledewitz Papers
Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.
Abolishing The Time Tax On Voting, Elora Mukherjee
Abolishing The Time Tax On Voting, Elora Mukherjee
Faculty Scholarship
A “time tax” is a government policy or practice that forces one citizen to pay more in time to vote compared with her fellow citizens. While few have noticed the scope of the problem, data indicate that, due primarily to long lines, hundreds of thousands if not millions of voters are routinely unable to vote in national elections as a result of the time tax, and that the problem disproportionately affects minority voters and voters in the South. This Article documents the problem and offers a roadmap for legal and political strategies for solving it. The Article uses as a …
Does The Constitutional Process Matter?, Zachary Elkins
Does The Constitutional Process Matter?, Zachary Elkins
Zachary Elkins
Constitution-making is a ubiquitous but poorly understood phenomenon. There is much speculation but relatively little evidence about the impact of different design processes on constitutional outcomes. Much of the debate reduces to the question of who is involved in the process and when. We consider two central issues in this regard. The first is the problem of institutional self-dealing, or whether governmental organs that have something to gain from the constitutional outcome should be involved in the process. The second has to do with the merits of public involvement in the process. Both of these concerns have clear normative implications …