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Full-Text Articles in Law

A Gun To Whose Head? Federalism, Localism, And The Spending Clause, Daniel S. Cohen Jan 2019

A Gun To Whose Head? Federalism, Localism, And The Spending Clause, Daniel S. Cohen

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

President Trump’s executive order rescinding federal funds from “sanctuary jurisdictions” has brought a critical, but overlooked, question of constitutional law to the forefront of the political debate: how does the Spending Clause apply to local governments? The purpose of the Spending Clause is to empower the federal government to bargain with the states to enact policies it cannot enact itself. This power, however, is constrained within the confines of federalism. The Supreme Court has sought to restrict the Spending Clause by crafting the Dole-NFIB framework, a test to determine whether a federal grant has compromised federalism. At its …


The Reverse-Commandeering System: A Better Way To Distribute State And Local Authority, Joseph Zelasko Sep 2017

The Reverse-Commandeering System: A Better Way To Distribute State And Local Authority, Joseph Zelasko

Northwestern University Law Review

Current regimes for distributing state and local authority have two primary flaws: (1) they unnecessarily restrict local authority by preventing local governments from passing private laws, and (2) they often require local ordinances to be enforced in state courts, thereby depriving local governments of the ability to interpret their own laws and requiring states to pay the judicial costs of local policy preferences. This Note suggests a new means of distributing state and local authority designed to address these two deficiencies: the reverse-commandeering system. The reverse-commandeering system would not distinguish between local authority to pass public and private laws. Instead, …


"Home Rule" Vs. "Dillon's Rule" For Washington Cities, Hugh Spitzer Apr 2015

"Home Rule" Vs. "Dillon's Rule" For Washington Cities, Hugh Spitzer

Seattle University Law Review

This Article focuses on the tension between the late-nineteenth century “Dillon’s Rule” limiting city powers, and the “home rule” approach that gained traction in the early and mid-twentieth century. Washington’s constitution allows cities to exercise all the police powers possessed by the state government, so long as local regulations do not conflict with general laws. The constitution also vests charter cities with control over their form of government. But all city powers are subject to “general laws” adopted by the legislature. Further, judicial rulings on city powers to provide public services have fluctuated, ranging from decisions citing the “Dillon’s Rule” …


Land Use And Zoning Law, Andrew E. Tarne Nov 2012

Land Use And Zoning Law, Andrew E. Tarne

Law Student Publications

Since the early days of nuisance law, but especially since the early twentieth century and the validation of zoning ordinances, land use planning and management have been fundamental roles of local government. As evinced by its state code, the Commonwealth of Virginia recognizes the essential role that localities play in land use planning. The Virginia Code requires that localities create planning commissions, adopt comprehensive plans, and, if the localities have adopted zoning ordinances, establish boards of zoning appeals. As most of the implementation of these mandates is left to individual localities, the form of implementation is not uniform but naturally …


Building Community In The Twenty-First Century: A Post-Integrationist Vision For The American Metropolis, Sheryll D. Cashin Jan 2000

Building Community In The Twenty-First Century: A Post-Integrationist Vision For The American Metropolis, Sheryll D. Cashin

Michigan Law Review

[T]he problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line. When W.E.B. DuBois wrote this prophetic statement at the dawn of the twentieth century, the American metropolis did not yet exist. Perhaps DuBois could not have predicted the sprawled, socioeconomically fragmented landscape that is so familiar to the majority of Americans who now live and work in metropolitan regions. But his prediction of a "color line" that would sear our consciousness and present the chief social struggle for the new century proved all too correct. As we contemplate the twenty-first century, Gerald Frug's book, City Making, makes clear …


Home Rule And The Secession Of Staten Island: City Of New York V. State Of New York, Florence L. Cavanna Jan 1992

Home Rule And The Secession Of Staten Island: City Of New York V. State Of New York, Florence L. Cavanna

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


Home Rule, Majority Rule, And Dillon's Rule, Richard Briffault Jan 1991

Home Rule, Majority Rule, And Dillon's Rule, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

Clayton Gillette's In Partial Praise of Dillon's Rule, or, Can Public Choice Theory Justify Local Government Law? is an ambitious attempt to breathe new life into an old local government law chestnut through the analytical tools of modern political economy. Gillette asserts that because the Rule permits state judges to invalidate local legislation that results from "one-sided lobbying," Dillon's Rule increases the allocational efficiency of local decision making and reduces the deadweight losses attendant on special interest pursuit of rent-seeking ordinances. According to Gillette, Dillon's Rule checks the danger of special interest abuse of local politics by constraining local …


Virginia's Historic District Enabling Legislation: Preservation At The Local Level, Virginia Epes Mcconnell Jan 1988

Virginia's Historic District Enabling Legislation: Preservation At The Local Level, Virginia Epes Mcconnell

University of Richmond Law Review

On April 10, 1987, Governor Gerald L. Baliles established the Governor's Commission to Study Historic Preservation (the Commission). The Governor created the Commission in order to ensure that "Virginia is back in the forefront of our nation's historic preservation efforts," and charged the Commission to examine preservation issues in Virginia and to make recommendations for improving the Commonwealth's preservation program. Governor Baliles addressed the Commission in July of 1987, emphasizing that preservation is not mere reverence for the past. Preservation is, rather, a tool to manage change, to enliven our future, and is "necessary if we are to hand over …