Law Commons^™

Foreword: New Supreme Court Cases: Duquesne Law Faculty Explains, Wilson Huhn

Law Faculty Publications

On September 30, 2022, several members of the faculty of the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University presented a Continuing Legal Education program, New Supreme Court Cases: Duquesne Law Faculty Explains, reviewing these developments. Duquesne Law Review graciously invited the faculty panel to contribute their analysis of these cases from the Supreme Court's 2021- 2022 term for inclusion in this symposium issue of the Law Review.

An Alternative To The Independent State Legislature Doctrine, Bruce Ledewitz

Law Faculty Publications

One of the most momentous actions taken by the United States Supreme Court in the last term was not deciding a case but granting review at the end of the term in Moore v. Harper, the North Carolina congressional redistricting case. This is the case in which the Supreme Court appears likely to adopt some version of the Independent State Legislature Doctrine (Doctrine). In this essay, I will describe the actual case and the Doctrine. But I will also be offering an alternative to the Doctrine, one that I believe achieves some of the goals that the Justices who …

Analysis Of Carson V. Makin, Wilson Huhn

Law Faculty Publications

Many school districts in the State of Maine lack high schools, so the children in those districts must attend another school selected by their parents. In 1873 the State of Maine enacted a tuition assistance program that offers a stipend to participating schools to partially defray the cost of educating children from districts that lack a high school. In 1981 the State of Maine enacted a law that categorically excludes sectarian schools’ from participating in the tuition assistance program.

Three sets of parents sued the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, asserting that the exclusion of sectarian schools, from …

Privacy: Pre- And Post-Dobbs, Rona Kaufman

Law Faculty Publications

The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to include a fundamental right to familial privacy. The exact contours of that right were developed by the Court from 1923 until 2015. In 2022, with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the Supreme Court abruptly changed course and held that the right to terminate a pregnancy is no longer part of the right to privacy previously recognized by the Court. This essay seeks to place Dobbs in the context of the Court’s family privacy cases in an effort to understand the Court’s …

Comparative Legal History. Edited By Olivier Moréteau, Aniceto Masferrer, And Kjell A. Modéer. Cheltenham, Uk; Northampton, Ma: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019 [Book Review], Dana Neacsu

Law Faculty Publications

Comparative Legal History stands out for both its content and its execution. At a time when most law schools devote themselves to the study of hic et nunc (here and now), Comparative Legal History proves there is something more than the rather dogmatic and pragmatic description of what is traditionally recognized as the law. In an age of hyper specialization, it discredits the absurd notion of law as (hard) science. Law, a human product, can easily be the object of scientific observations, but does that scientific observation need to be limited to the study of rules and norms in force …

The Creation Of The Common Law: The Medieval Year Books Deciphered. By Thomas Lund. [Book Review], Dana Neacsu

Law Faculty Publications

In The Creation of the Common Law: The Medieval Year Books Deciphered, Thomas Lund delivers what he promises, and more. Written for the sophisticated student of law and history, this book explores how common law was created and taught to new generations of lawyers. In doing so, Lund achieves a feat few have ever done; he exposes law as a construct of the upper classes that is used to ensure order according to ever changing interests.

Advocacy As History? That Takes The Prize! Gulag: A History [Book Review], Dana Neacsu

Law Faculty Publications

Gulag: A History, the recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction, may be particularly well received by lawyers and law students because they can appreciate author Anne Applebaum's writing skills. Gulag reads like a lawyer's product: a conclusion replete with facts and arguments. Those who enjoy perfecting their legal skills while reading for pleasure should read this review. Gulag is, in essence, a successful legal brief.