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Full-Text Articles in Law

Courts, Reasons, And Rules, Michael Dorf Feb 2015

Courts, Reasons, And Rules, Michael Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


The Supreme Court 1997 Term -- Foreword: The Limits Of Socratic Deliberation, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

The Supreme Court 1997 Term -- Foreword: The Limits Of Socratic Deliberation, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Truth, Justice, And The American Constitution, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Truth, Justice, And The American Constitution, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Good Society, Commerce, And The Rehnquist Court, Michael Dorf Feb 2015

Good Society, Commerce, And The Rehnquist Court, Michael Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


What Does The Second Amendment Mean Today?, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

What Does The Second Amendment Mean Today?, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

Proponents of the "individual right" interpretation of the Second Amendment frequently contend that those who disagree with this view apply a double standard, dismissing robust protection for individual firearms ownership and possession, while recognizing rights with less support. However, the Second Amendment has not been unfairly orphaned. The courts and commentators that reject the individual right scholars' claims are justified in doing so by the application of the same criteria commonly applied to other constitutional provisions, namely: doctrine; text; original understanding; structural inference; post adoption history; and normative considerations.


First Amendment Freedom Of Speech And Religion - October 2009 Term, Burt Neuborne, Michael Dorf Feb 2015

First Amendment Freedom Of Speech And Religion - October 2009 Term, Burt Neuborne, Michael Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Three Vital Issues: Incorporation Of The Second Amendment, Federal Government Power, And Separation Of Powers - October 2009 Term, Michael C. Dorf, Erwin Chemerinsky Feb 2015

Three Vital Issues: Incorporation Of The Second Amendment, Federal Government Power, And Separation Of Powers - October 2009 Term, Michael C. Dorf, Erwin Chemerinsky

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


How To Choose The Least Unconstitutional Option: Lessons For The President (And Others) From The Debt Ceiling Standoff, Neil H. Buchanan, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

How To Choose The Least Unconstitutional Option: Lessons For The President (And Others) From The Debt Ceiling Standoff, Neil H. Buchanan, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

The federal statute known as the “debt ceiling” limits total borrowing by the United States. Congress has repeatedly raised the ceiling to authorize necessary borrowing, but a political standoff in 2011 nearly made it impossible to borrow funds to meet obligations that Congress had affirmed earlier that very year. Some commentators urged President Obama to ignore the debt ceiling, while others responded that such borrowing would violate the separation of powers and therefore that the president should refuse to spend appropriated funds. This Article analyzes the choice the president nearly faced in summer 2011, and which he or a successor …


Dynamic Incorporation Of Foreign Law, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Dynamic Incorporation Of Foreign Law, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

Lawmaking bodies in one polity sometimes incorporate the law of another polity “dynamically,” so that when the law of the foreign jurisdiction changes, the law of the incorporating jurisdiction changes automatically. Dynamic incorporation can save lawmaking costs, lead to better legal rules and standards, and solve collective action problems. Thus, the phenomenon is widespread. However, dynamic incorporation delegates lawmaking power. Further, as the formal and practical barriers to revocation of the act of dynamic incorporation become higher, that act comes closer to a cession of sovereignty, and for democratic polities, such sessions entail a democratic loss. Accordingly, dynamic incorporation of …


A Nonoriginalist Perspective On The Lessons Of History, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

A Nonoriginalist Perspective On The Lessons Of History, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


The Domain Of Reflexive Law, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

The Domain Of Reflexive Law, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Iqbal And Bad Apples, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Iqbal And Bad Apples, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

In addition to its important implications for federal civil procedure, the Supreme Court’s decision in Ashcroft v. Iqbal put the imprimatur of the Supreme Court on a troubling narrative of the excesses carried out by the Bush Administration in the name of fighting terrorism. In this “few bad-apples narrative,” harsh treatment of detainees—especially in the immediate wake of the attacks of September 11th, but also years later in such places as Afghanistan, Iraq, the Guantanamo Bay detention center, and elsewhere—was the work of a small number of relatively low-ranking military and civilian officials who went beyond the limits of the …


The Morality Of Prophylactic Legislation (With Special Reference To Speed Limits, Assisted Suicide, Torture, And Detention Without Trial), Michael Dorf Feb 2015

The Morality Of Prophylactic Legislation (With Special Reference To Speed Limits, Assisted Suicide, Torture, And Detention Without Trial), Michael Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

My subject is the morality of prophylactic legislation. What do I mean by ‘prophylactic’ legislation? Let me illustrate the concept by drawing a contrast with the most famous hypothetical case in the scholarly literature of Anglo-American jurisprudence. During the course of their debate over the relation between law and morality, Lon Fuller and H. L. A. Hart disagreed about what tools are needed to discern the meaning and scope of a rule barring vehicles from a public park. Hart and Fuller clashed over whether legislative purpose and considerations of morality enter into the process of discerning what Hart famously called …


Putting The Democracy In Democracy And Distrust: The Coherentist Case For Representation Reinforcement, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Putting The Democracy In Democracy And Distrust: The Coherentist Case For Representation Reinforcement, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

Nearly a quarter of a century after its publication, Democracy and Distrust remains the single most perceptive justificatory account of the work of the Warren Court and modern constitutional law more broadly. Yet, the continuing influence of John Hart Ely’s process theory of American constitutional law may seem surprising, given that the account has been incisively criticized as both too limited and too sweeping. Beginning with Laurence Tribe’s "Puzzling Persistence of Process-Based Constitutional Theories" and culminating in the work of Ronald Dworkin and others, critics have argued that the representation-reinforcing approach to interpreting the Constitution is no less laden with …


Dynamic Incorporation Of Foreign Law , Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Dynamic Incorporation Of Foreign Law , Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


The 2000 Presidential Election: Archetype Or Exception?, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

The 2000 Presidential Election: Archetype Or Exception?, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Shared Constitutional Interpretation, Michael C. Dorf, Barry Friedman Feb 2015

Shared Constitutional Interpretation, Michael C. Dorf, Barry Friedman

Michael C. Dorf

In United States v. Dickerson the Supreme Court reaffirmed its decision in Miranda v. Arizona, stating that it was a 'constitutional decision' and, thus, not subject to congressional overruling. At the same time, the Dickerson Court reiterated Miranda's "invitation" to "Congress and the States to . . . search for . . . other procedures which are at least as effective" as the Court's prescribed warnings in protecting the suspect's rights. This article uses Dickerson as a lens through which to examine the possibilities of shared constitutional interpretation. After all, the Court that decided Dickerson has, in recent years, been …


Same-Sex Marriage, Second-Class Citizenship, And Law's Social Meanings, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Same-Sex Marriage, Second-Class Citizenship, And Law's Social Meanings, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

Government acts, statements, and symbols that carry the social meaning of second-class citizenship may, as a consequence of that fact, violate the Establishment Clause or the constitutional requirement of equal protection. Yet social meaning is often contested. Do laws permitting same-sex couples to form civil unions but not to enter into marriage convey the social meaning that gays and lesbians are second-class citizens? Do official displays of the Confederate battle flag unconstitutionally convey support for slavery and white supremacy? When public schools teach evolution but not creationism, do they show disrespect for creationists? Different audiences reach different conclusions about the …


The Majoritarian Difficulty And Theories Of Constitutional Decision Making, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

The Majoritarian Difficulty And Theories Of Constitutional Decision Making, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Artifactions: The Battle Over The National Endowment For The Arts, Michael Dorf Feb 2015

Artifactions: The Battle Over The National Endowment For The Arts, Michael Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Commerce, Death Panels, And Broccoli: Or Why The Activity/Inactivity Distinction In The Health Care Case Was Really About The Right To Bodily Integrity , Michael Dorf Feb 2015

Commerce, Death Panels, And Broccoli: Or Why The Activity/Inactivity Distinction In The Health Care Case Was Really About The Right To Bodily Integrity , Michael Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Spandrel Or Frankenstein's Monster? The Vices And Virtues Of Retrofitting In American Law, Michael Dorf Feb 2015

Spandrel Or Frankenstein's Monster? The Vices And Virtues Of Retrofitting In American Law, Michael Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


The Heterogeneity Of Rights, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

The Heterogeneity Of Rights, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

What is the implication for the validity of governmental rules of the conclusion that the rule interferes with a constitutional right? This question has implications for two important doctrinal puzzles. The first is the question when, if ever, a litigant has a constitutional right to an exemption from a generally valid rule of law. Many constitutional rights are rule-dependent in the sense that they protect actors against certain kinds of governmental rules rather than shielding acts against governmental interference. This Article denies the claim by scholars and judges that this rule-dependence reflects a deep truth about the nature of constitutional …


Federal Governmental Power: The Voting Rights Act, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Federal Governmental Power: The Voting Rights Act, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Whose Ox Is Being Gored? When Attitudinalism Meets Federalism, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Whose Ox Is Being Gored? When Attitudinalism Meets Federalism, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

Empirical research indicates that factors such as an individual Justice's general political ideology play a substantial role in the decision of Supreme Court cases. Although this pattern holds in federalism cases, views about the proper allocation of authority between the state and federal governments - independent of whether the particular outcome in any given case is "liberal" or "conservative" - can sometimes be decisive, as demonstrated by the 2005 decision in Gonzales v. Raich, in which "conservative" Justices voted to invalidate a strict federal drug provision in light of California's legalization of medical marijuana, and "liberal" Justices voted to uphold …


“Early-Bird Special” Indeed!: Why The Tax Anti-Injunction Act Permits The Present Challenges To The Minimum Coverage Provision, Michael C. Dorf, Neil S. Siegel Feb 2015

“Early-Bird Special” Indeed!: Why The Tax Anti-Injunction Act Permits The Present Challenges To The Minimum Coverage Provision, Michael C. Dorf, Neil S. Siegel

Michael C. Dorf

In view of the billions of dollars and enormous effort that might otherwise be wasted, the public interest will be best served if the Supreme Court of the United States reaches the merits of the present challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) during its October 2011 Term. Potentially standing in the way, however, is the federal Tax Anti-Injunction Act (TAIA), which bars any “suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax.” The dispute to date has mostly turned on the fraught and complex question of whether the ACA’s exaction for being …


Instrumental And Non-Instrumental Federalism, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Instrumental And Non-Instrumental Federalism, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Dicta And Article Iii, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Dicta And Article Iii, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


The Coherentism Of Democracy And Distrust, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

The Coherentism Of Democracy And Distrust, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.


Interpretive Holism And The Structural Method, Or How Charles Black Might Have Thought About Campaign Finance Reform And Congressional Timidity, Michael C. Dorf Feb 2015

Interpretive Holism And The Structural Method, Or How Charles Black Might Have Thought About Campaign Finance Reform And Congressional Timidity, Michael C. Dorf

Michael C. Dorf

No abstract provided.