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Full-Text Articles in Law

Judicial Reform Of Habeas Corpus: The Advocates' Lament, Christopher E. Smith Jan 1996

Judicial Reform Of Habeas Corpus: The Advocates' Lament, Christopher E. Smith

Cleveland State Law Review

The U. S. Supreme Court has engineered significant changes in habeas corpus procedures. Any change in law or public policy has consequences for the human beings whose lives come into contact with the changed law or policy. Critics have accused the Rehnquist Court of "dismantling access to federal habeas corpus review guaranteed by statute since 1867." As a result, concerns have emerged regarding the consequences for potential petitioners whose claims can no longer be reviewed by federal judges. While the fate of death row inmates is the most important consequence of habeas corpus reform, anecdotal reports on these controversial cases …


Branding The Sexual Predator: Constitutional Ramifications Of Federal Rules Of Evidence 413 Through 415, Margaret C. Livnah Jan 1996

Branding The Sexual Predator: Constitutional Ramifications Of Federal Rules Of Evidence 413 Through 415, Margaret C. Livnah

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note seeks to address both the potential constitutional consequences of the newly passed Federal Rules of Evidence 413 and 414 and the problems that these revisions were designed to remedy. Section II will introduce the history of the passage of these controversial revisions as primarily a political process and one which bypassed the standard rules of practice. Section III will address the procedural violations and the troubling inconsistency of the new rules with the federal courts' interpretation of the other Federal Rules of Evidence. Section IV of this Note will address the substantive constitutional issues presented by these amendments, …


On The Abolition Of Man: A Discussion Of The Moral And Legal Issues Surrounding The Death Penalty, Thomas J. Walsh Jan 1996

On The Abolition Of Man: A Discussion Of The Moral And Legal Issues Surrounding The Death Penalty, Thomas J. Walsh

Cleveland State Law Review

This article examines the moral and practical arguments supporting the death penalty in an effort to show why the United States should join other Western nations in the abolition of the death penalty. First, this article explores the historical context of the death penalty in the United States and examines the current status of constitutional doctrine on the death penalty. Next, because an analysis of the arguments for and against the death penalty are invariably charged with moral issues, an effort will be made to examine the moral aspects of the death penalty. The arguments offered in support of the …


The Violence Against Women Act After United States V. Lopez: Will Domestic Violence Jurisdiction Be Returned To The States, Stacey L. Mckinley Jan 1996

The Violence Against Women Act After United States V. Lopez: Will Domestic Violence Jurisdiction Be Returned To The States, Stacey L. Mckinley

Cleveland State Law Review

Recent judiciary and media events have put a national focus on the overlooked problem of domestic violence. Federal lawmakers admirably responded to this attention in an aggressive manner when Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Although little doubt exists that this country needs to reduce domestic violence, this sweeping federal legislation may not be the most effective means. The hasty response by federal lawmakers is unconstitutional in consideration of the Supreme Court's recent holding in Lopez. Although initial court challenges to the VAWA on Lopez grounds have resulted in split decisions, this Note argues that portions of the …


Amending The Constitution: Just Not Every November, Brendon Troy Ishikawa Jan 1996

Amending The Constitution: Just Not Every November, Brendon Troy Ishikawa

Cleveland State Law Review

Professor Akhil Amar has defended the idea that Americans may amend the Constitution regardless of Article V's dictates. Professor Amar does not stand alone on this claim. Professor Bruce Ackerman not only agrees, but would actually prefer direct popular amendment over the express Article V procedures. Their arguments, however, ignore the Framers' careful balancing of federal and popular principles in Article V by embracing only the democratic populist aspect of the Constitution. Part I of this Article examines and critiques Professor Amar's argument that the people may directly amend the Constitution without having to comply with Article V. An examination …


Noam Chomsky And Judicial Review, James G. Wilson Jan 1996

Noam Chomsky And Judicial Review, James G. Wilson

Cleveland State Law Review

This Commentary will consider four authorities who are hardly considered standard-bearers of the Left: Aristotle, Edmund Burke, James Madison, and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Insights from Aristotle, Burke, Madison, Holmes, and Chomsky will be combined into following set of propositions: (1) the Supreme Court has a constitutional and historical obligation to resist tyranny and other forms of constitutional perversion and factionalism; (2) the Supreme Court has a unique duty and capacity to combat abuses of private power; (3) private corporations and the well-to-do have gained so much power that they have become a dangerous faction that is turning our government …


The Struggle Over The Past, Robert W. Gordon Jan 1996

The Struggle Over The Past, Robert W. Gordon

Cleveland State Law Review

History supplies a set of basic ground rules; the "traditional principles of the common law," from which much modem law, both judge-made and statutory law, is seen as having improperly deviated. As the New Right ideology spreads among elite decision-makers and intellectuals, it poses a serious challenge to the Progressive-liberal consensus about the legal meanings of history that had previously dominated American legal thought for a very long time. The historical claims of New Right ideology in particular have touched off a number of fierce debates among Old (Progressive) Liberal, New Right, and radical legal intellectuals. In Section II, the …


States' Repeal: A Proposed Constitutional Amendment To Reinvigorate Federalism, Aaron J. O'Brien Jan 1996

States' Repeal: A Proposed Constitutional Amendment To Reinvigorate Federalism, Aaron J. O'Brien

Cleveland State Law Review

The lack of both legislative and judicial integrity led to a governmental system which is federalist in name but centrally planned in reality. Congress regularly passes laws which stretch the conceivable bounds of its powers. By failing to overturn such legislation, the Supreme Court ignores the benefits of federalism and the significance of dual sovereignty. These changes render the individual citizen's opinion rather meaningless while attacking the roots of democracy and threatening the liberties early Americans so earnestly tried to preserve. The People are left without a mechanism through which to speak on a national level. Because of this dissolution …