Law Commons^™

Overvaluing Uniformity, Amanda Frost

Amanda Frost

Gender And Justice: Parity And The United States Supreme Court, Paula A. Monopoli

Paula A Monopoli

There is a deep concern among many American women that only one woman remains on the United States Supreme Court. When Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in on September 25, 1981, most people never imagined that twenty-five years later there would still be only one woman on the Court. It appears that it will be many more years before there is a critical mass of women sitting on the high court. Given its central role, the Court should better represent the gender balance in American society. In a number of other countries, voluntary or involuntary parity provisions have been …

The Wages Of Originalist Sin: District Of Columbia V. Heller, Jeffrey M. Shaman

Jeffrey M. Shaman

This essay analyzes and critiques the Supreme Court’s recent decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which ruled that that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms unconnected with service in a militia. The focus of the essay is on Justice Scalia’s majority opinion in Heller, which adheres strictly to an extreme view of originalism holding that the Constitution should be interpreted by ascertaining its original meaning at the time it was adopted. Justice Scalia believes that the Constitution has a static meaning, and that changes in the world around us are of no relevance to constitutional …

Give A Hoot, Don’T Pollute: The Roberts Court And The Environment, David A. Schultz

David A Schultz

Analysis and predictions on the jurisprudential direction of the Roberts Court have thus far produced articles examining its possible impact on several areas of law, but so far none have assessed the Court’s treatment of environmental issues in a comprehensive fashion, even though it has decided seven cases in this area in the 2005 and 2006 terms. This Article reviews these seven decisions, concluding that based on them there is no discernable pro-business bias thus far as some had predicted. However, the Court is very divided ideologically on environmental issues, suggesting that the next presidential appointment could have a major …

Judgments Of The United States Supreme Court And The South African Constitutional Court As A Basis For A Universal Method To Resolve Conflicts Between Fundamental Rights, Daniel H. Erskine

Daniel H. Erskine

This article describes the methods utilized by the United States Supreme Court to resolve specific cases involving conflicts between federal constitutional rights, a federal constitutional right and a state constitutional or statutory right, and an international treaty right and a federal constitutional right. Consideration of particular decisions representative of the manner the Court resolves conflicts between rights in the three typologies described above, illustrates how the Court views such conflicts and the rationales employed to resolve apparent conflicting rights. The rationales used by the United States Supreme Court are compared to the South African Constitutional Court’s decisions in the Soobramoney, …

Democracy On Trial: Terrorism, Crime, And National Security Policy In A Post 9-11 World, David A. Schultz

David A Schultz

Post 9-11 concerns in the United States, among the European Union (EU) members, and other western democracies regarding international terrorism forced convergence of the traditionally distinct policy areas of domestic criminal justice and national security. This convergence has produced several policy and institutional conflicts that pit individual rights against homeland security, domestic law and institutions against international norms and tribunals, and criminal justice agencies against national security organizations. This Article examines regime responses to international terrorism, principally in the United States, in comparison to the European Union, seeking to describe the consequences of the merger of criminal justice norms with …

Religious Arguments And The United States Supreme Court: A Review Of Amicus Curiae Briefs Filed By Religious Organizations, Andrew S. Mansfield

Andrew S Mansfield

This paper analyzes forty-five amicus curiae briefs filed by religious organizations with the Supreme Court since Brown v. Board of Education, 348 U.S. 886, decided in 1954, through the decision in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood, 546 U.S. 320, rendered in 2006. The forty-five amicus curiae briefs were filed in nineteen cases and concern issues that are often identified as “moral.” Analysis of the amicus curiae briefs filed with the Supreme Court by religious organizations provides at least three crucial insights. First, the legal arguments presented by religious organizations, as reflected in amicus curiae briefs filed with the Supreme Court, provide …

Brief Amicus Curiae Of The American Catholic Lawyers Association Pleasant Grove City, Utah, V. Summum,129 S.Ct. 1125, Edward C. Lyons

Edward C. Lyons

No abstract provided.