Law Commons^™

Five Views Of Federalism: "Converse-1983" In Context, Akhil R. Amar

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1987, I published an overly long article in the Yale Law Journal entitled Of Sovereignty and Federalism. In it, I advanced a "converse-1983" model of federalism-a model that highlighted the ways in which state laws can provide remedies when federal officials violate federal constitutional rights. For example, prior to the 1971 landmark of Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Agents, citizens whose Fourth Amendment rights had been violated by federal officers had no clear federal cause of action; but state trespass law often provided a remedy, and enabled citizens to recover when their "persons, houses, papers, [or] effects" had been …

Three Faces Of Federalism: Finding A Formula For The Future, Deborah J. Merritt

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first, and oldest, of the Supreme Court's concepts of federalism is the territorial model. This model recognizes that there is a discernible boundary between the subjects fit for national regulation and those reserved for state governance. Territorialists argue that the national government is supreme in some areas, while states reign sovereign in others. Adherents of this model, for example, might declare that the national government directs foreign affairs while the states control domestic relations.

Under the territorial model, federalism violations occur when the national government attempts to invade a substantive area of law reserved to the states. The Supreme …

The Continuing Evolution Of Criminal Constitutional Law In State Courts, S. Carran Daughtrey

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although early state constitutions were important and ambitious documents for their time, the development of state constitutional law stagnated after the drafting and adoption of the federal constitution., As the doctrine of federalism has resurfaced, however, states have begun to turn to their constitutions to grant more protection for their citizens. The states' criminal constitutional laws have changed significantly and continue to evolve today.

In the 1960s, the Warren Court expanded basic protections for criminal defendants by finding that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. The Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual …

A Precarious Path: The Bill Of Rights After 200 Years, Tony A. Freyer

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Bill of Rights occupies an ambiguous place in American society. Americans favor the Bill of Rights in principle, but when asked whether they support particular rights guarantees for real-life practices such as gun ownership, capital punishment, abortion, and flag burning, Americans fervently and profoundly disagree. The essays David J. Bodenhamer and James W. Ely, Jr. have compiled in The Bill of Rights in Modern America After 200 Years, richly suggest why Americans have reconciled principle and practice with such difficulty. Written for a popular audience by specialists who possess a profound knowledge of and differing views concerning the technical …

State Courts Reject "Leon" On State Constitutional Grounds: A Defense Of Reactive Rulings, Leigh A. Morrissey

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1984, the United States Supreme Court announced a broad exception to the federal exclusionary rule' in United States v. Leon. The Court held the exclusionary rule inapplicable when police officers obtain evidence in reasonable, good faith reliance on a warrant later found to be defective. Commentators had advised against the creation of the so-called good faith exception before Leon. After Leon, they promulgated a torrent of commentary criticizing both the Leon Court's reasoning and its result. Today, because Leon does not control state constitutional decisions, the battle over the good faith exception is fought on the state level. Currently, …

The Algebra Of Pluralism: Subjective Experience As A Constitutional Variable, Barbara J. Flagg

Vanderbilt Law Review

Adzan Bedonie is a Navajo woman who speaks no English, holds tightly to traditional Navajo beliefs, and lives in a one-room hogan on the wrong side of the line drawn by a federal court to partition Navajo and Hopi lands.' The law that mandates her relocation and thus threatens to sever what for her is a spiritual connection to the land on which she lives offers a potential escape route: Congress provided for a limited number of life estates for older individuals subject to relocation. But Adzan Bedonie, like most elderly Navajo, has not applied for a life estate, because …

The "Constitutionalization" Of The Un Security System, Matthias J. Herdegen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The considerable activism displayed by the Security Council over the last years and its dynamic application of the powers under Chapter VII of the UN Charter recently have inspired concern for the institutional balance within the United Nations and the quest for justiciable restraints upon the Council. Such concern underlines a "constitutional" approach to the United Nations framework: the Charter is conceived as a kind of constitution for the community of states with the International Court of Justice as the ultimate guardian of its legality vis-a-vis the Council. Such a "constitutional" approach should be viewed with caution. The scrutiny of …

The Scattered Remains Of Sovereign Immunity For Foreign States After Republic Of Argentina V. Weltover,Inc., Sarah K. Schano

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The globalization of the United States economy in the latter half of the twentieth century has fostered greater interaction between the United States and foreign states and their instrumentalities. As a result, the likelihood of legal disputes arising between United States entities and foreign states has increased. Traditionally, foreign states have been immune from suit in United States courts. However, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), enacted in 1976, specifies instances in which United States courts may deny immunity to foreign states and exercise jurisdiction over them. Under one provision of the FSIA, a foreign state may forfeit its immunity …