Law Commons^™

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.

Performance Of The Indian Supreme Court During The Emergency, Tirthankar Das

Tirthankar Das

The National emergency as declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975-77 was a watershed point for Indian polity. The judiciary during this period came with some startling judgements which shook the very foundation of Indian democracy. This project will take a critical look into the performance of the Indian Judiciary especially the Supreme Court of India during the emergency period.

No Right To Respect: Dred Scott And The Southern Honor Culture, Cecil J. Hunt

Cecil J. Hunt II

Article Abstract: No Right to Respect: Dred Scott and the Southern Honor Culture; by Professor Cecil J. Hunt, II This article reflects on the 150th anniversary of the infamous decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford, 19 How. (60 U.S.) 393 (1857) in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the constitutionality of slavery. This essay is part of the considerable national effort by all of the constituencies in the American legal community to reflect on this infamous case and consider the distance the nation has come since it was decided as well as its continuing legacy on the …

Reason's Freedom And The Dialectic Of Ordered Liberty, Edward Lyons

Edward C. Lyons

The project of "public reason" claims to offer an epistemological resolution to the civic dilemma created by the clash of incompatible options for the rational exercise of freedom adopted by citizens in a diverse community. The present Article proposes, via consideration of a contrast between two classical accounts of dialectical reasoning, that the employment of "public reason," in substantive due process analysis, is unworkable in theory and contrary to more reflective Supreme Court precedent. Although logical commonalities might be available to pick out from the multitude of particularized accounts of what constitutes "civic order," no "public reason" so derived could …

Philosopher King Courts: Is The Exercise Of Higher Law Authority Without A Higher Law Foundation Legitimate?, John C. Eastman

John C. Eastman

When our nation's Founders designed our constitutional system of government as the means to secure the inalienable rights described in the Declaration of Independence, they placed great stock in the structural provisions of the Constitution, even greater than in a judicially-enforceable bill of rights. Although they certainly envisioned judicial review, it is hard to fathom that they would have sanctioned a judiciary that decides every major (and a good number of the minor) political issue of the day. Even less clear is the ground of authority on which the modern-day court rests. This article considers several possible claims of legitimacy …

Politics And The Court: Did The Supreme Court Really Move Left Because Of Embarrassment Over Bush V. Gore?, John C. Eastman

John C. Eastman

The premise of the "hot topics" panel at the 2005 AALS convention was that the Rehnquist Court had in 2004 retreated from its bolder conservatism, asserting itself on the side of individual liberty against a federal government that had grown increasingly cavalier toward civil liberties during three years of a war on terror and two decades of a renewed war on crime. Proof of the premise was said to be found in a pair of Sixth Amendment cases, Crawford v. Washington and Blakely v. Washington, and also in the trilogy of terrorism cases, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, and …

Regionalism, The Supreme Court, And Effective Governance: Healing Problems That Know No Bounds, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

By actively endorsing remedies that favor a city-suburb divide, the Supreme Court has failed to allow regional development. The Supreme Court's federalism jurisprudence is unresponsive to the myriad issues pervading society. Ultimately, individuals must take action, through a process formulated in this article, to change the way in which governments and the courts respond to the needs of populations.

A battery of cases including Brown v. Board of Education and its progeny, Missouri v. Jenkins and Milliken v. Bradley, reached the Supreme Court during the tumultuous 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. A vast array of environmental laws and housing regulations also …

In Incognito: The Principle Of Double Effect In American Constitutional Law, Edward Lyons

Edward C. Lyons

In Vacco v. Quill, 521 U.S. 793 (1997), the Supreme Court for the first time in American case law explicitly applied the principle of double effect to reject an equal protection claim to physician-assisted suicide. Double effect, traced historically to Thomas Aquinas, proposes that under certain circumstances it is permissible unintentionally to cause foreseen evil effects that would not be permissible to cause intentionally. The court rejected the constitutional claim on the basis of a distinction marked out by the principle, i.e., between directly intending the death of a terminally ill patient as opposed to merely foreseeing that death as …

Judicial Review Of Unenumerated Rights: Does Marbury's Holding Apply In A Post-Warren Court World?, John C. Eastman

John C. Eastman

Prepared to commemmorate the bicentennial of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Marbury v. Madison, this article explores the limits of the original holding, its expansive interpretation in the 20th Century to claims of judicial supremacy, even exclusiveness, in constitutional interpretation, and the various theories that would support such claims. The article explores in some detail the particularly troubling claim of judicial power to create new, unenumerated rights when the Court itself has rejected the foundational, natural rights principles that would lend legitimacy to the enterprise.

Polluting Environment, Polluted Constitution: Is A 'Polluted' Constitution Worse Than A Polluted Environment?, Shubhankar Dam (Co-Author)

Shubhankar Dam

The Indian Supreme Court has been praised as one of the most socially active courts in the world, especially so in the environmental field. Yet it is arguable that many of the benefits claimed for judicial involvement are far from real. Three phases of acti­vism are identified. In the 1970s, the Court developed the concept of environmental rights based on ensuring that the directive principles of state policy and the funda­mental right to life contained the Constitution worked in mutual support. This was followed by a period when the Court extended liability principles. The most recent and most controversial phase …

Vineet Narain V Union Of India: A Court Of Law And Not Justice: Is The Indian Supreme Court Bound By The Indian Constitution, Shubhankar Dam

Shubhankar Dam

The last twenty five years are an “impressive” chronicle of the Indian Supreme Court in action. Its novel functioning has changed the internal dynamics of Indian polity in a manner unknown to constitutional democracies. From an institution entrusted with the task of adjudicating disputes between parties, the Indian Supreme Court has transformed itself into an institution enjoined to promote the ideals of a socio-economic and political justice. Its prior role as an “adjudicator” has undergone a reappraisal. The judges therein are no more adjudicators but activists, energetically contributing to the accomplishment of India's constitutional vision. In this new creation, they …

Lawmaking Beyond Lawmakers: The Little Right And The Great Wrong, Shubhankar Dam

Shubhankar Dam

No abstract provided.

Whistle-Blowing And The Continued Expansion Of Title Ix In Jackson V. Birmingham Board Of Education, Adam Epstein

Adam Epstein

A study of the history and importance of the 2005 Supreme Court decision that expanded Title IX to include a private right of action for individuals who reveal Title IX violations even though they themselves were not subject to sex discrimination. The case involved Roderick Jackson a high school coach from the Birmingham, Alabama area.

Title Ix Whistle-Blowing Is Protected, Adam Epstein

Adam Epstein

Discussion of the valiant efforts of high school basketball coach Roderick Jackson (Birmingham, Alabama) and his complaint over inferior facilities for his girls basketball team. His claim went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Green Laws For Better Health: The Past That Was And The Future That Maybe - Reflections From The Indian Experience, Shubhankar Dam

Shubhankar Dam

No abstract provided.

Some Contrarian Concerns About Law, Psychology, And Public Policy, Donald Bersoff

Donald N. Bersoff

No abstract provided.

Justice By The Numbers: The Supreme Court And The Rule Of Four-Or Is It Five?, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Taking Justice Thomas Seriously, John Eastman

John C. Eastman

Substantive Review of Scott Gerber's book, First Principles: The Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas (New York University Press, 1999). This review praises Gerber's recognition that Justice Thomas has articulated a consistent and thoughtful original theory view of the Constitution, distinct from the original practice, most positivist view of constitutional interpretation advanced by Justice Antonin Scalia and the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. It also applauds the effort to take seriously Justice Thomas's jurisprudence, even while it takes Gerber to task for misunderstanding at times the full depth of that jurisprudence. Most notably, the article challenges Gerber's critique of Justice Thomas's Establishment …

Oregon V. Smith And The Religious Freedom Restoration Act: An Educational Perspective, Edward C. Lyons

Edward C. Lyons

No abstract provided.

The State Interest In The Good Citizen: Constitutional Balance Between The Citizen And The Perfectionist State, Steve Sheppard

Steve Sheppard

Judges must have flexibility when responding to the changing norms of justice in society, but they must also maintain predictability to enhance the cultural acceptance of the Court’s authority and the authority of law in society. Predictability demands that a rationale for each decision be communicated by the authors of opinions so that it can be replicable by other courts.

The debate over a preferred method of adjudication, balancing or categorical, is moot because the two methods are not mutually exclusive. The important issue is the definition of interests to be promoted or discouraged by law, which must also be …