Law Commons^™

Privatization And Political Accountability, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

This article is an attempt to draw some general connections between privatization and political accountability. Political accountability is to be understood as the amenability of a government policy or activity to monitoring through the political process. Although the main focus of the article is to examine different types of privatization, specifically exploring the ramifications for political accountability of each type, I also engage in some speculation as to whether there are there situations in which privatization might raise constitutional concerns related to the degree to which the particular privatization reduces political accountability for the actions or decisions of the newly …

Common Law Elements Of The Section 1983 Action, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the role of the common law in Supreme Court interpretation and application of § 1983, which grants a cause of action for violations of constitutional rights committed "under color of any [state] statute, ordinance, regulation, custom or usage."' I argue that the common law has served primarily to narrow the reach of § 1983, and that this is inappropriate in light of the broad statutory language and the absence of good evidence that the enacting Congress intended a narrower application than the statutory language indicates.

The Fourth Amendment's Forcing Of Flawed Choices: Giving Content To Freedom For Residents Of Public Housing - Pratt V. Chicago Housing Authority, 848 F. Supp. 792 (N.D. Ill. 1994), Erika George

Faculty Scholarship

In April 1994, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a preliminary injunction halting the "Operation Clean Sweep" program operated by the Chicago Housing Authority ("CHA"). ³ The court did so over the protestations of some of those most affected, the public housing residents subjected to the CHA's searches. ⁴ Pratt v. Chicago Housing Authority⁵ attracted the attention of the nation and President William Clinton, who requested that the Justice Department investigate ways to strengthen security in public housing without offending the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.

Civil libertarians applauded …

The Constitutional Case Against Precedent, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

A recent, and characteristically illuminating, article by Professor Henry Monaghan confidently announces that "[p] recedent is, of course, part of our understanding of what law is."1 As a descriptive matter, Professor Monaghan is entirely correct. Legal analysis-by lawyers, courts, and academics-typically begins and ends with precedent. Law students are meticulously trained in the art of reading, applying, and distinguishing cases. Court pinions, including Supreme Court opinions, on constitutional matters frequently consist entirely of discussions of past decisions, without so much as a reference to the Constitution itself.' Even in this era of law-and-metatheory, case analysis is still the mainstay of …

Defendants' Brief In The School Finance Case: Mcduffy V. Robertson: An Excerpt And A Summary, Mary Connaughton

Faculty Scholarship

The wisdom of promoting public education in the Commonwealth was recognized by the earliest settlers, the framers of the Constitution, and many subsequent legislatures, officials, educators and citizens. The opinions of the Department, the Secretary of Education, the Governor and various educators, contained in the stipulation, demonstrate that a policy of supporting public education is as important today as ever.²

The implementation of this policy goal by the Legislature and municipalities involves choices that are at the heart of representative government: how much public money to raise, how best to allocate the money among education and the many other …

Equity And Hierarchy: Reflections On The Harris Execution, Steven Calabresi, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

The legal controversy surrounding the execution of Robert Alton Harris is only one in a series of cases over the past few months testing the proper relationship between the Supreme Court and the inferior federal courts. Controversy over inferior federal court grants or denials of injunctions concerning Haitian refugees1 and the French abortion pill2 have starkly raised, as does the Harris case3, profound questions concerning Supreme Court review of inferior court rulings on issues involving equitable relief. The Harris case did not display the American legal system at its finest. None of the participants in the process distinguished themselves-not the …

Operation Rescue - Was The Justice Dept. Right To Intervene In Wichita?, Gary S. Lawson, Celeste Lacy Davis, Eve W. Paul

Faculty Scholarship

Discussion of Operation Rescue attempt to shut down abortion clinic in Wichita, KS in August 1991, and ensuing decision of U.S. District Judge Patrick Kelly, as well as intervention of Justice Department. A debate-style article with "pro" side written by Gary Lawson and "con" side written by C.L. Davis & E.W. Paul.

Administrative Failure And Local Democracy: The Politics Of Deshaney, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay is an effort to construct a normative basis for a constitutional theory to resist the Supreme Court's recent decision in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services.¹ In DeShaney, the Court decided that a local social service worker's failure to prevent child abuse did not violate the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment even though the social worker "had reason to believe" the abuse was occurring. ² Chief Justice Rehnquist's opinion for the Court held that government inaction cannot violate due process unless the state has custody of the victim, ³ thus settling a controversial …

Government Official Torts And The Takings Clause: Federalism And State Sovereign Immunity, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, I argue that state sovereign and official immunities, insofar as they bar recovery when private parties would be liable for similar conduct, are unconstitutional under the takings clause of the fifth amendment, as applied to the states under the fourteenth.²² A state's refusal to compensate plaintiffs for the tortious damage or destruction of property should be redressed by the federal courts in civil actions brought under § 1983.

Section I of this article provides background through a discussion of the Supreme Court's treatment of the problem of torts committed by government officials, primarily in procedural due …

Substance, Process And Outcome In Constitutional Theory, David B. Lyons

Faculty Scholarship

Scholarship in philosophy proceeds at a slower pace than in the law. As Tom Lehrer, the poet laureate of a recent generation, might have said, the law biz travels on a faster track. Or so it seems to a philosopher who has recently been treading the tracks of constitutional lawyers.

And so it is with apprehension that I take as my text a book that was published as long ago as 1980. As the title of this lecture might suggest to someone with so long a memory, the book is John Hart Ely's Democracy and Distrust.' That work provoked an …

A Truce In The Takeover Wars?, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

To a casual observer, hostile corporate takeovers may seem as pointless and destructive a form of modern warfare as the Iran/Iraq conflict. "Raiders" strike with bear hugs, junk bonds, and two-tier tender offers. Incumbent managers respond with poison pills, greenmail payments, shark repellents, and golden parachutes. Congress is wearying of the strife, and may soon impose a cease-fire on the combatants -but to whose benefit?