Law Commons^™

The Constitution's Forgotten Cover Letter: An Essay On The New Federalism And The Original Understanding, Daniel A. Farber

Daniel A Farber

At the end of the summer of 1787, the Philadelphia Convention issued two documents. One was the Constitution itself. The other document, now almost forgotten even by constitutional historians, was an official letter to Congress, signed by George Washington on behalf of the Convention. Congress responded with a resolution that the Constitution and "letter accompanying the same" be sent to the state legislatures for submission to conventions in each state.

The Washington letter lacks the detail and depth of some other evidence of original intent. Being a cover letter, it was designed only to introduce the accompanying document rather than …

Amending The Constitution, Erwen Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky

The ultimate measure of a constitution is how it balances entrenchment and change. On the one hand, a constitution differs from all other laws in that it is much more difficult to revise. For example, the next session of Congress can amend or repeal a statute, but altering the U.S. Constitution requires a complex process involving supermajorities of both houses of Congress and the states. A constitution thus reflects a desire to place a society's core values of governance - such as the structure of government and the rights of individuals - in a document that is hard to revise. …

The Iraq Paradox: Minority And Group Rights In A Viable Constitution, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

On October 15, 2005 an Iraq ravaged by a civil war spawned by the 2003 American invasion and subsequent occupation voted to decide the fate of a permanent constitution for the country. Although many Sunni Arabs took part in the vote, the referendum lost in the three governorates where they form a majority. But the constitution was approved because opponents only succeeded in recording "no" votes larger than two-thirds in only two of Iraq's eighteen provinces, in effect one province short of a veto. A two-thirds rejection in three provinces would have doomed the charter and the transition to a …

How The United States Supreme Court Diminished Constitutional Protections Of The Right To Vote And What Congress Can Do About It, Henry Rose

Henry Rose

No abstract provided.

The Declaration Of Independence As Introduction To The Constitution, Alexander Tsesis

Alexander Tsesis

No abstract provided.

The Constitution As Poetry, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

Building upon a body of scholarship that compares constitutional interpretation to biblical and literary interpretation, and relying on an insight from a prominent nineteenth century rabbinic scholar, this Article briefly explores similarities in the interpretation of the Torah—the text of the Five Books of Moses—and the United States Constitution. Specifically, this Article draws upon Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin’s (“Netziv”) intriguing suggestion that the interpretation of the text of the Torah parallels the interpretation of poetry. According to Netziv, this parallel accounts for the practice of interpreting the Torah expansively in ways that derive substantive legal rules and principles far …

What Is The Best Model For Investigating Presidential Wrongdoing Today, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

Taking The Threat To Democracy Seriously, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

What Has Gone Wrong And Can We Do About It, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

Presidential Succession And Disability: Marking The 50th Anniversary Of The 25th Amendment, John D. Feerick, Joel K. Goldstein, John Rogan, Robert J. Reilly

Joel K. Goldstein, J.D.

Discussion with Dean John Feerick and Joel Goldstein (St. Louis University School of Law), Fordham University School of Law, February 3, 2017. This event marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment's ratification. Moderated by John Rogan. Introduction by Dean Robert Reilly. Program of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment Series.

Symposium: The Adequacy Of The Presidential Succession System In The 21st Century, Part 3, Joel K. Goldstein, John D. Feerick, Benton Becker, James E. Fleming, Birch Bayh, Robert J. Kaczorowski

Joel K. Goldstein, J.D.

Symposium. Panel: Joel K. Goldstein, Dean John D. Feerick, Benton Becker, James E. Fleming, and Senator Birch Bayh. Moderated by Robert Kaczorowski. Fordham University School of Law, April 16, 2010. Aired on C-SPAN.

Gerrymandering And Conceit: The Supreme Court's Conflict With Itself, Mckay Cunningham

McKay Cunningham

In November 2016, a federal court struck as unconstitutional Wisconsin’s redistricting map under both the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause. The court’s decision in Whitford v. Gill marks the first time a federal court invalidated a redistricting map as unconstitutional for partisan gerrymandering in over thirty years. Wisconsin has appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court, which recently granted review. The Supreme Court has long held that extreme partisan gerrymandering violates equal protection but has simultaneously refused to determine the merits of gerrymandering disputes, instead labeling them as non-justiciable political questions. In particular, the Court has …

The Amendment Effect, Jonathan L. Marshfield

Jonathan Marshfield

A Comparative Examination Of Counter-Terrorism Law And Policy, Laurent Mayali, John Yoo

Laurent Mayali

This article conducts a comparative analysis of U.S. and European counter-terrorism law and policy. Recent attacks vy ISIS in the U.S., France, and Germany have revealed important differences between American and European approaches. Before September 11, 2001, the United States responded to terrorism primarily with existing law enforcement authorities, though in isolated cases it pursued military measures abroad. In this respect, it lagged behind the approach of European nations, which had confronted internal terrorism inspired vy leftwing ideology or separatist goals. But after the 9-11 attacks, the United States adopted a preventive posture that aimed to pre-empt terrorist groups before …

Robocop Is Almost Here, Stewart L. Harris

Stewart L. Harris

No abstract provided.

Law Enforcement And Criminal Law Decisions, Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky

No abstract provided.

Has Nihilism Politicized The Supreme Court Nomination Process?, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

Political Functions And Limitations Of Contemporary State Constitutions In The United States, Jonathan L. Marshfield

Jonathan Marshfield

Constitutional Borrowing, Robert L. Tsai

Robert L Tsai

Borrowing from one domain to promote ideas in another domain is a staple of constitutional decisionmaking. Precedents, arguments, concepts, tropes, and heuristics all can be carried across doctrinal boundaries for purposes of persuasion. Yet the practice itself remains underanalyzed. This Article seeks to bring greater theoretical attention to the matter. It defines what constitutional borrowing is and what it is not, presents a typology that describes its common forms, undertakes a principled defense of borrowing, and identifies some of the risks involved. The authors' examples draw particular attention to places where legal mechanisms and ideas migrate between fields of law …

Democracy's Handmaid, Robert L. Tsai

Robert L Tsai

Democratic theory presupposes open channels of dialogue, but focuses almost exclusively on matters of institutional design writ large. The philosophy of language explicates linguistic infrastructure, but often avoids exploring the political significance of its findings. In this Article, Tsai draws from the two disciplines to reach new insights about the democracy enhancing qualities of popular constitutional language. Employing examples from the founding era, the struggle for black civil rights, the religious awakening of the last two decades, and the search for gay equality, he presents a model of constitutional dialogue that emphasizes common modalities and mobilized vernacular. According to this …

John Brown's Constitution, Robert L. Tsai

Robert L Tsai

It will surprise many Americans to learn that before John Brown and his men briefly captured Harper’s Ferry, they authored and ratified a Provisional Constitution. This deliberative act built upon the achievements of the group to establish a Free Kansas, during which time Brown penned an analogue to the Declaration of Independence. These acts of writing, coupled with Brown’s trial tactics after his arrest, cast doubts on claims that the man was a lunatic or on a suicide mission. Instead, they suggest that John Brown aimed to be a radical statesman, one who turned to extreme tactics but nevertheless remained …

Constitutional Conundrums, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.

Rlupia And The Limits Of Religious Institutionalism, Zachary A. Bray

Zachary Bray

What special protections, if any, should religious organizations receive from local land use controls? The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”)—a deeply flawed statute—has been a magnet for controversy since its passage in 2000. Yet until recently, RLUIPA has played little role in debates about “religious institutionalism,” a set of ideas that suggest religious institutions play a distinctive role in developing the framework for religious liberty and that they deserve comparably distinctive deference and protection. This is starting to change: RLUIPA’s magnetic affinity for controversy has begun to connect conflicts over religious land use with larger debates about …

A Plea For Constitutional Balance, Stephen M. Feldman

Stephen M. Feldman

The Political Branches And The Law Of Nations, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia

Anthony J. Bellia

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the U.S. Supreme Court went out of its way to follow background rules of the law of nations, particularly the law of state-state relations. As we have recently argued, the Court followed the law of nations because adherence to such law preserved the constitutional prerogatives of the political branches to conduct foreign relations and decide momentous questions of war and peace. Although we focused primarily on the extent to which the Constitution obligated courts to follow the law of nations in the early republic, the explanation we offered rested on an important, …

A Sleeping Giant: §2 Of The Kentucky Constitution, Allison I. Connelly

Allison Connelly

In this newsletter article, Professor Connelly discusses Section 2 of the Kentucky Constitution which prohibits the exercise of arbitrary official power.

The Process Of Marriage Equality, Josh Blackman, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

No abstract provided.

The Constitution Of Cádiz In Florida, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

The article explores the vibrant constitutional community that existed in St. Augustine and the province of East Florida in the final decade of Spanish control of the area. Based on relatively unexplored primary sources, it reveals a great deal of unknown information about the importance of the Constitution in Florida immediately before the territory was transferred to the United States. The article provides full description of the Constitution's promulgation in 1812 and a second promulgation of the Constitution in 1820 (something unknown in the general literature). It also addresses the construction of the St. Augustine monument to the Constitution erected …

Pre-Constitutional Law And Constitutions: Spanish Colonial Law And The Constitution Of Cádiz, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

This article contributes to the intellectual and legal history of this constitutional document. It also provides a close study of how pre-constitutional laws are employed in writing constitutions. It examines the way Spanish colonial law, known as "derecho indiano" in Spanish, was used in the process of drafting the Constitution and particularly the way these constitutional activities and provisions related to the Americas. The article asserts that this pre-constitutional law was used in three distinct ways: as general knowledge related to the Americas and their institutions; as a source for providing a particular answer to a specific legal question; and …

The Executive, Shubhankar Dam

Shubhankar Dam

India has a parliamentary system. The President is the head of the Union of India; the Prime Minister is the head of government.1 Along with his or her cabinet, the Prime Minister is responsible to the Lower House of Parliament.2 States have similar arrangements. They are formally headed by Governors. But chief ministers and their cabinets lead the governments. Executive power, ordinarily, is exercised by the Prime Minister, chief ministers and their respective councils of ministers. However, in keeping with India’s Westminster inheritance, such power often vests in the formal heads, and is exercised in their names. This chapter offers …