Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- File Type
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
Constitutional Newspeak: Learning To Love The Affordable Care Act Decision, A. Christopher Bryant
Constitutional Newspeak: Learning To Love The Affordable Care Act Decision, A. Christopher Bryant
Aaron Christopher Bryant
Constitutional Newspeak: Learning to Love the Affordable Care Act Decision In his classic dystopian novel, 1984, George Orwell imagines a world in which language is regularly contorted to mean its opposite – as in the waging of war by the Ministry of Peace and infliction of torture by the Ministry of Love. A core claim of Orwell’s was that such abuse of language – which in his novel he labeled “Newspeak” -- would ultimately channel thought. Whatever the merits of this claim as a theory of linguistics, constitutional developments too recent to be called history demonstrate that as a practical …
What Mcdonald Means For Unenumerated Rights, Aaron Christopher Bryant
What Mcdonald Means For Unenumerated Rights, Aaron Christopher Bryant
Aaron Christopher Bryant
In June a splintered Supreme Court held in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the Second Amendment applied to state and local governments. But the case was about much more than handguns. It presented the Court with an unprecedented opportunity to correct its erroneous precedent and revive the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause. The plurality declined the offer not, as Justice Alito’s opinion suggested, out of a profound respect for stare decisis, but rather because at least four Justices like the consequences of that ancient error, especially insofar as unenumerated rights are concerned. This observation in turn raises questions …