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Full-Text Articles in Law

Statutory Constraints And Constitutional Decisionmaking, Anthony O'Rourke Nov 2017

Statutory Constraints And Constitutional Decisionmaking, Anthony O'Rourke

Anthony O'Rourke

Although constitutional scholars frequently analyze the relationships between courts and legislatures, they rarely examine the relationship between courts and statutes. This Article is the first to systematically examine how the presence or absence of a statute can influence constitutional doctrine. It analyzes pairs of cases that raise similar constitutional questions, but differ with respect to whether the court is reviewing the constitutionality of legislation. These case pairs suggest that statutes place significant constraints on constitutional decisionmaking. Specifically, in cases that involve a challenge to a statute, courts are less inclined to use doctrine to regulate the behavior of nonjudicial officials. …


Structural Overdelegation In Criminal Procedure, Anthony O'Rourke Nov 2017

Structural Overdelegation In Criminal Procedure, Anthony O'Rourke

Anthony O'Rourke

In function, if not in form, criminal procedure is a type of delegation. It requires courts to select constitutional objectives, and to decide how much discretionary authority to allocate to law enforcement officials in order to implement those objectives. By recognizing this process for what it is, this Article identifies a previously unseen phenomenon that inheres in the structure of criminal procedure decision-making. Criminal procedure’s decision-making structure, this Article argues, pressures the Supreme Court to delegate more discretionary authority to law enforcement officials than the Court’s constitutional objectives can justify. By definition, this systematic “overdelegation” does not result from the …


Facing The Ghost Of Cruikshank In Constitutional Law, Martha T. Mccluskey Nov 2017

Facing The Ghost Of Cruikshank In Constitutional Law, Martha T. Mccluskey

Martha T. McCluskey

For a symposium on Teaching Ferguson, this essay considers how the standard introductory constitutional law course evades the history of legal struggle against institutionalized anti-black violence. The traditional course emphasizes the drama of anti-majoritarian judicial expansion of substantive rights. Looming over the doctrines of equal protection and due process, the ghost of Lochner warns of dangers of judicial leadership in substantive constitutional change. This standard narrative tends to lower expectations for constitutional justice, emphasizing the virtues of judicial modesty and formalism. By supplementing the ghost of Lochner with the ghost of comparably infamous and influential case, United States v. Cruikshank …


A Comparative Study Of The Jewish And The United States Constitutional Law Of Capital Punishment, Steven Davidoff Oct 2017

A Comparative Study Of The Jewish And The United States Constitutional Law Of Capital Punishment, Steven Davidoff

Steven Davidoff Solomon

The Jewish view on the death penalty is that it should exist but it should never be used .... [lI]t is Governor Pataki's job to ensure :order. But he must remember that as a leader he must exhibit attributes of both the father and the mother. Governor Pataki is a nice man. But if he acts on the death penalty, he will be the leader of a bloody government


Balancing Security And Liberty In Germany, Russell A. Miller Oct 2017

Balancing Security And Liberty In Germany, Russell A. Miller

Russell A. Miller

Scholarly discourse over America’s national security policy frequently invites comparison with Germany’s policy. Interest in Germany’s national security jurisprudence arises because, like the United States, Germany is a constitutional democracy. Yet, in contrast to the United States, Germany’s historical encounters with violent authoritarian, anti-democratic, and terrorist movements have endowed it with a wealth of constitutional experience in balancing security and liberty. The first of these historical encounters – with National Socialism – provided the legacy against which Germany’s post-World War II constitutional order is fundamentally defined. The second encounter – with leftist domestic radicalism in the 1970s and 1980s – …


Hate Speech Debate Has Roots In Us History, Rodney A. Smolla Sep 2017

Hate Speech Debate Has Roots In Us History, Rodney A. Smolla

Rod Smolla

No abstract provided.


Hate Speech And The First Amendment, Alan E. Garfield Sep 2017

Hate Speech And The First Amendment, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


This Is Why We Protect Hate Speech, Alan E. Garfield Aug 2017

This Is Why We Protect Hate Speech, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

Reprinted in Newsday, the Bangor Daily News, the Virginian Pilot, the Morning Call.


State Action Doctrine And The Logic Of Constitutional Containment, Jud Mathews Jul 2017

State Action Doctrine And The Logic Of Constitutional Containment, Jud Mathews

Jud Mathews

Deriding the state action doctrine is one of the great pastimes of American constitutional law. It has been described as a shamble and "incoherent." On its face, the core concept seems straightforward enough constitutional rights are rights against the government. But what counts as the "state action" that triggers the protection of rights seems to shift, maddeningly, from case to case in the Supreme Court's state action jurisprudence.In this article, I aim to help make some sense of why the state action doctrine has developed as it has by setting it in a comparative and historical frame. It can be …


The Blessing Of Separating Church And State, Alan E. Garfield Jul 2017

The Blessing Of Separating Church And State, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


Procedural Due Process Claims, Erwin Chemerinsky Jun 2017

Procedural Due Process Claims, Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky

No abstract provided.


Value Of Valor: Soldiers’ Tenets Should Guide All Americans, Alan E. Garfield May 2017

Value Of Valor: Soldiers’ Tenets Should Guide All Americans, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


Introduction To Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May Apr 2017

Introduction To Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May

Erin Daly

No abstract provided.


New Frontiers In Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May, Caiphas Soyapi Apr 2017

New Frontiers In Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May, Caiphas Soyapi

Erin Daly

No abstract provided.


New Frontiers In Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May, Caiphas Soyapi Apr 2017

New Frontiers In Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May, Caiphas Soyapi

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Introduction To Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May Apr 2017

Introduction To Environmental Constitutionalism, Erin Daly, Louis Kotze, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Sustainability And Global Environmental Constitutionalism, James R. May Apr 2017

Sustainability And Global Environmental Constitutionalism, James R. May

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Precedent And Speech, Randy J. Kozel Mar 2017

Precedent And Speech, Randy J. Kozel

Randy J Kozel

The U.S. Supreme Court has shown a notable willingness to reconsider its First Amendment precedents. In recent years the Court has departed from its prior statements regarding the constitutional value of false speech. It has revamped its process for identifying categorical exceptions to First Amendment protection. It has changed its position on corporate electioneering and aggregate campaign contributions. In short, it has revised the ground rules of expressive freedom in ways both large and small.

The Court generally describes its past decisions as enjoying a presumption of validity through the doctrine of stare decisis. This Article contends that within the …


Who's The Check On Authoritarianism In The Whitehouse?, Alan E. Garfield Feb 2017

Who's The Check On Authoritarianism In The Whitehouse?, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


Tears In Heaven: Religiously And Culturally Sensitive Laws For Preventing The Next Pandemic, Eloisa C. Rodriguez-Dod, Aileen Maria Marty, Elena Maria Marty-Nelson Feb 2017

Tears In Heaven: Religiously And Culturally Sensitive Laws For Preventing The Next Pandemic, Eloisa C. Rodriguez-Dod, Aileen Maria Marty, Elena Maria Marty-Nelson

Eloisa C Rodríguez-Dod

This Article argues that laws created to curtail the spread of deadly contagious diseases need to be drafted and implemented in ways that maximize acceptance of an affected communities’ cultural and religious beliefs. When laws are put in place that are inconsistent with community mores, the overall goal of stopping an epidemic is threatened. Communities often distrust government and other relief organizations who mandate rules and regulations that impinge their religious and cultural beliefs; thus, these regulations geared at helping communities can paradoxically undermine the goal of preventing the spread of infectious disease. This Article focuses on the need for …


The Supreme Court's Brain Teaser, Alan E. Garfield Jan 2017

The Supreme Court's Brain Teaser, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


Judicial Handbook On Environmental Constitutionalism, James R. May, Erin Daly Dec 2016

Judicial Handbook On Environmental Constitutionalism, James R. May, Erin Daly

James R. May

No abstract provided.


Subnational Environmental Constitutionalism And Reform In New York State, James R. May Dec 2016

Subnational Environmental Constitutionalism And Reform In New York State, James R. May

James R. May

The State of New York’s constitution was perhaps the first in the world to embody environmental constitutionalism, most directly in what is known as its “Forever Wild” mandate from 1894. In contrast to many subnational environmental provisions, courts in New York have regularly enforced Forever Wild. New York’s Constitution also contains a remarkable mandate that every twenty years voters decide whether to hold elections for delegates to convene a convention to amend the state’s charter.

This article has three parts. Part I provides a primer to the field of subnational environmental constitutionalism. Part II explores the opportunities and challenges in …


Patriot Act A More Perfect Policy.Docx, D'Andre Devon Lampkin Dec 2016

Patriot Act A More Perfect Policy.Docx, D'Andre Devon Lampkin

D'Andre Lampkin

This essay provides an overview of the USA Patriot Act and introduce readers to some of the controversial aspects of the main provisions outlined in the original bill. While the paper states an affirmative position regarding the language of the law, this essay challenges readers to decide whether the benefits of the Patriot Act outweighed the founded, potential, and unknown violations of the United States Constitution.


Post-Racialism And The End Of Strict Scrutiny, David Schraub Dec 2016

Post-Racialism And The End Of Strict Scrutiny, David Schraub

David Schraub

In recent years, a growing social consensus has emerged around the aspiration of a “post-racial” America: one where race is no longer a fault line for social strife or, perhaps, a morally significant trait whatsoever. This ambition, however, lies in tension with the most basic constitutional principle governing our treatment of race in the public sphere: that of “strict scrutiny.” Post-racialism seeks to diminish the salience of race to near-negligibility. The strict scrutiny of racial classifications, by contrast, significantly enhances the salience of race by treating it differently from virtually every other personal attribute or characteristic - including hair or …


Finding The Sovereign In Sovereign Immunity: Lessons From Bodin, Hobbes, And Rousseau, David Schraub Dec 2016

Finding The Sovereign In Sovereign Immunity: Lessons From Bodin, Hobbes, And Rousseau, David Schraub

David Schraub

The doctrine of “sovereign immunity” holds that the U.S. government cannot be sued without its consent. This is not found in the Constitution’s text; it is justified on philosophical grounds as inherent to being a sovereign state: a sovereign must be able to issue commands free from constraint. The sources of this understanding of sovereignty—Hobbes, Bodin, and others—are, in turn, condemned by opponents of sovereign immunity as absolutists whose doctrines are incompatible with limited, constitutional government. This debate, and thus the usual conception of sovereign immunity, rests on a fundamental mistake. Hobbes and his peers were careful to avoid the …


The "Right" Right To Environmental Protection: What We Can Discern From The American And Indian Constitutional Experience, Deepa Badrinarayana Dec 2016

The "Right" Right To Environmental Protection: What We Can Discern From The American And Indian Constitutional Experience, Deepa Badrinarayana

Deepa Badrinarayana

 The best legal mechanism to protect the environment re-mains a complex and contentious issue. Many normative questions with practical implications remain. Should the legal response be in the foundational document of most legal systems, the Constitution? If so, should a Constitution create a specific right to environmental protection, or are statutory responses to address environmental problems adequate? If one considers environmental protection globally, both constitutional and legislative responses to environmental protection prevail. Yet, neither alone is adequate. Environmental legislation may not cater to individual rights, especially when legislated from a utilitarian platform. A constitutional right to environmental protection can …