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Full-Text Articles in Law
Truth, Deterrence, And The Impeachment Exception , James L. Kainen
Truth, Deterrence, And The Impeachment Exception , James L. Kainen
Faculty Scholarship
James v. Illinois permits illegally-obtained evidence to impeach defendants, but not defense witnesses. Thus far, all courts have construed James to allow impeachment of defendants' hearsay declarations. This article argues against allowing illegally-obtained evidence to impeach defendants' hearsay declarations because doing so unduly diminishes the exclusionary rule's deterrent effect. The distinction between impeaching defendants and defense witnesses disappears when courts allow prosecutors to impeach defendants' hearsay declarations. Because defense witnesses report exculpatory conduct of a defendant who always has a substantial interest in disguising his criminality, their testimony routinely incorporates defendant hearsay. Defense witness testimony thus routinely paves the way …
Incompletely Theorized Agreements: An Unworkable Theory Of Judicial Modesty, Yavar Bathaee
Incompletely Theorized Agreements: An Unworkable Theory Of Judicial Modesty, Yavar Bathaee
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This Comment examines the conflicting demands on American courts to safeguard the will of the legislature, ensure the protection of the minority, and resolve particular disputes and redress particular injuries. The manner and scope in which a court theorizes is critical as it binds future courts and litigants to its decisions. Professor Cass Sunstein proposes a jurisprudence of minimalism and supports theoretical modesty in the form of the "incompletely theorized agreement", the notion that individuals can agree on less theorized principles to resolve cases at hand without resorting to high-level theoretical pronouncements. This Comment addresses Sunstein's minimalist regime within the …