Law Commons^™

Reinvest In Us: Reimagine The Role Of Police In The U.S., Jamil Davis

College Honors Program

In America, we must question and understand what is “law and order.” Over centuries, America developed a racialized slave-class politically and socially through power and force. Police are the foot soldiers of maintaining law and order as Slave Patrols evolved into the State Police. In my thesis, I discuss how their efforts in traffic enforcement enable a dominant class to target and enslave the oppressed class. Traffic control leads to 18 million interactions a year which is 34 people a minute. The numbers of interactions along with persistent practices regarding discrimination cause police to be a social liability. When bad …

Terrible Terrell: The Forgotten Story Of Carolyn Daniels, Olivia Moll

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Olivia Moll ’22
Major: History
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alyssa Lopez, History and Classics

My thesis explores the participation of black women in the Civil Rights Movement, more specifically the contribution from Carolyn Daniels. Daniels is a mother and SNCC activist from Terrell County, and her story has yet to be told. I am here to tell Daniels’s story; her success towards the SNCC voting registration project that took place in the summer of 1962. The beauty of the Civil Rights Movement is that everyone’s story and activism matters, especially the story of women.

"They Would Do As They Pleased, As They Had The Power": Gender Violence And The American Settler-Colonial Project, 1830-1890, Noelle Iati

Women's History Theses

This thesis investigates the role of gender violence and sexual terror in westward settler expansion of the United States in the nineteenth century. I posit that gender violence was not simply a symptom of war and colonization, but an integral piece of the American colonization strategy. Using studies of three locations during three different periods, I have found that the local, territorial, state, and federal governments all actively deployed sexual assault and other forms of gendered terror as methods of removing Indigenous peoples to reservations and rancherías, opening their lands to settlement and resource exploitation for the purpose of acquiring …

Whose Highest And Best? Including Economic Development And Individual Landownership In The Highest And Best Use Standard, Brigid Sawyer

Catholic University Law Review

Real property is a finite resource. As a result, two theories of land use most frequently in tension are economic development and individual land ownership. In tracing key places in American history where these two theories conflict, it is seen that economic development is often prioritized over individual land ownership. This Comment analyzes the connections between the Founding Era philosophy on property law, Native American land takings, and eminent domain takings and proposes a new definition of the highest and best use valuation standard, one that accounts for both economic development and individual land ownership. This new standard allows both …

Review Of Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation By Nicholas Guyatt, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

Legal historian Nicholas Guyatt argues in "Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation" (Basic 2016), that racial segregation was created not by enemies of equality but rather by friends of equality in order to establish practical limits on their disruptive ideas. Drawing on rich sources, he says liberals pursued separationist policies not only to manage the social experience of slaves and former slaves, but also native peoples. Here I make the following points: (1) Guyatt doesn't distinguish between temporary, strategic resort to segregation from deeper philosophical commitments to segregation; (2) juxtaposing the plight of African slaves in America …

Interning The “Non-Alien” Other: The Illusory Protections Of Citizenship, Natsu Taylor Saito

Natsu Taylor Saito

Saito draws parallels between the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII and the current actions being taken by the US government as it seeks out terrorists in the post-9/11 world. The action of unequal prosecution of citizens based on race has roots that extend far back in American history, and the unfair internment of citizens in the 20th century should not be considered an aberration of public policy.

A Response: The Impact Of War On Justice In The History Of American Law, William E. Nelson

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The foundational claim of this essay is that judges at most points in time should act with restraint and should not attempt to resolve contested issues of policy. They should incorporate new policies into the law only when the polity as a whole has already adopted a particular policy or when it is in the process of adopting one. The essay then maintains that there have been three periods in American history—the Revolution and the subsequent decades of constitution-making, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and World War II and its aftermath—when the American public as an entity did adopt policies …

Establishing Justice In Middle America: A History Of The United States Court Of Appeals For The Eighth Circuit, Jeffrey Morris

Jeffrey B. Morris

No abstract provided.

Rabban's Law's History, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

This is a brief review of David Rabban's new book: Law's History: American Legal Thought and the Transatlantic Turn to History (Cambridge, 2013).

The Long Exception: Rethinking The Place Of The New Deal In American History, Jefferson Cowie, Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

"The Long Exception" examines the period from Franklin Roosevelt to the end of the twentieth century and argues that the New Deal was more of an historical aberration—a byproduct of the massive crisis of the Great Depression—than the linear triumph of the welfare state. The depth of the Depression undoubtedly forced the realignment of American politics and class relations for decades, but, it is argued, there is more continuity in American politics between the periods before the New Deal order and those after its decline than there is between the postwar era and the rest of American history. Indeed, by …

The Injustice Of Ignorance, Nicholas Tavares

Common Reading Essay Contest Winners

Third Place (tie)

Adoption Of English Law In Maryland, Garrett Power

Garrett Power

It served as an axiom of Maryland’s constitutional history that settlers carried with them the “rights of Englishmen” when they crossed the Atlantic. In 1642 the Assembly of Maryland Freemen declared Maryland’s provincial judges were to follows the law of England. Maryland’s 1776 Declaration of Independence left a legal lacuna--- what were to be the laws and public institutions of this newly created sovereign entity? This paper considers the manner in which the sovereign state of Maryland filled the void.

From Rapists To Superpredators: What The Practice Of Capital Punishment Says About Race, Rights And The American Child, Robyn Linde

Faculty Publications

At the turn of the 20^th century, the United States was widely considered to be a world leader in matters of child protection and welfare, a reputation lost by the century’s end. This paper suggests that the United States’ loss of international esteem concerning child welfare was directly related to its practice of executing juvenile offenders. The paper analyzes why the United States continued to carry out the juvenile death penalty after the establishment of juvenile courts and other protections for child criminals. Two factors allowed the United States to continue the juvenile death penalty after most states in …

Four Score And Seven(Th) Inning Stretch: The Intersection Of Government And Sports Throughout American History, William Gantt Pierce

William Gantt Pierce

Many things would have been different if not for sports in the American society. Not only have sports impacted the people in our society, but it has even gone as far as determining certain pieces of legislation passed in our national and state legislatures. Known as the “sports effect,” the world of sports has greatly impacted American laws and legislation throughout the years. Conversely, American laws and legislation have also impacted the sports community. For these reasons, this Note surveys the different ways that both government and sports have played on one another throughout the years. This Note analyzes these …

Adoption Of English Law In Maryland, Garrett Power

Legal History Publications

It served as an axiom of Maryland’s constitutional history that settlers carried with them the “rights of Englishmen” when they crossed the Atlantic. In 1642 the Assembly of Maryland Freemen declared Maryland’s provincial judges were to follows the law of England. Maryland’s 1776 Declaration of Independence left a legal lacuna--- what were to be the laws and public institutions of this newly created sovereign entity? This paper considers the manner in which the sovereign state of Maryland filled the void.

The Rise And Fall Of Post—World War Ii Corporate Tax Reform, Steven A. Bank

Law and Contemporary Problems

The United States is unique in subjecting corporate income to two layers of tax. In what is called a "classical system," corporate income is taxed once at the entity level when earned and a second time at the individual level when distributed to shareholders in the form of a dividend. By contrast, in most other countries, corporate- and shareholder-level taxes are fully or partially integrated through some form of credit or deduction. America's double taxation of corporate income is a much-criticized but persistent feature of its current tax system despite numerous reform proposals over the last half-century or so. Here, …

Our Forgotten Founders: Reconstruction, Public Education, And Constitutional Heroism, Tom Donnelly

Cleveland State Law Review

In this Article, I consider the constitutional stories we tell our schoolchildren about the Founding and Reconstruction. To that end, I analyze the relevant sections of our leading high school history textbooks, focusing particularly on the consensus narratives and constitutional heroes that emerge in these accounts. This analysis is vital to more fully understanding the background assumptions that elite lawyers, political leaders, and the wider public bring to bear when they consider the meaning of the Constitution.

Constructing The Co-Ed Military, Elaine Donnelly

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

During a pre-launch test of the Apollo One spacecraft,1 an electrical spark ignited the pure-oxygen atmosphere inside the cramped capsule, killing astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chafee.2 Critics demanded to know why the mechanical and electrical engineers of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) failed to recognize the inherent dangers of operating in a pure-oxygen environment. To ensure that the intent of Congress is carried out with regard to homosexuals in the military, the Secretary of Defense should: * Improve understanding and enforcement of the law by eliminating the Clinton Administration's enforcement regulations, known as "Don't Ask, …

The Hair Dilemma: Conform To Mainstream Expectations Or Emphasize Racial Identity, Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, Tracy L. Dumas

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

Throughout American history, skin color, eye color, and hair texture have had the power to shape the quality of Black people's lives, and that trend continues today for Black women in the workplace.

A Symposium On The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism And Judicial Review; Introduction, Daniel W. Hamilton

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Interning The “Non-Alien” Other: The Illusory Protections Of Citizenship, Natsu Taylor Saito

Law and Contemporary Problems

Saito draws parallels between the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII and the current actions being taken by the US government as it seeks out terrorists in the post-9/11 world. The action of unequal prosecution of citizens based on race has roots that extend far back in American history, and the unfair internment of citizens in the 20th century should not be considered an aberration of public policy.

Envisioning The Modern American Fiscal State: Progressive-Era Economists And The Intellectual Foundations Of The U.S. Income Tax, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Articles by Maurer Faculty

At the turn of the twentieth century, the U.S. system of public finance underwent a dramatic, structural transformation. The late nineteenth-century system of indirect taxes, associated mainly with the tariff, was eclipsed in the early decades of the twentieth century by a progressive income tax. This shift in U.S. tax policy marked the emergence of a new fiscal polity - one that was guided not simply by the functional and structural need for government revenue but by concerns for equity and economic and social justice. This Article explores the paradigm shift in legal and economic theories that undergirded this dramatic …

The Antebellum Political Background Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Garrett Epps

Law and Contemporary Problems

Epps presents information concerning the historical context of the Fourteenth Amendment. Among other implications, the Amendment should be viewed as an effort to defend the national government from control by transient majorities or undemocratic factions in the states.

The Cycles Of Constitutional Theory, Barry Friedman

Law and Contemporary Problems

Friedman presents information on the cyclical nature of constitutional theory. Because constitutional theory is a reaction to the current developments of constitutional law, it is interesting to view constitutional issues through the framework of different historical circumstances.

The Presidential Oath, The American National Interest And A Call For Presiprudence, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

“Don't Buy Another Vote. I Won't Pay For A Landslide": The Sordid And Continuing History Of Political Corruption In West Virginia, Allen Hayes Loughry Ii

SJD Dissertation Abstracts

This study documents the long and sordid history of corruption--both perceived and corroborated--in the West Virginia political process. The researcher explores the considerable amounts of money spent by wealthy individuals for election or re-election. It documents the effect of high-cost elections, an effect which in many instances has spawned criminal activity. The author relates ostensibly ceaseless measures of corruption at the executive, legislative, and judicial levels. The findings indicate the existence of problems in West Virginia politics since the State's inception in 1863, including vote buying, vote rigging, undue geographical barriers, and lawlessness leading to numerous declarations of martial law. …

The True Story Of Marbury V. Madison, David F. Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Though normally not friends of original intent or legal tradition, today's judicial "activists" like to trace their lineage back to the (purported) original judicial activist, to the great Chief Justice who was the first to persuade the Supreme Court to strike down a law of Congress.

According to this conceit, which is now the standard interpretation enshrined in countless histories and hornbooks, Marbury v. Madison was the breakthrough that demonstrated how truly powerful the judiciary could be. In this famous case, decided 200 years ago, Marshall supposedly showed that the Constitution is an elastic document or at least could be …

Holocaust Deniers Can't Be Ignored: History: As Victims And Witnesses Of World War Ii Die Off, Revisionist Views Of The Nazi Horrors Could Gain Broader Acceptance, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

On trial in an English courtroom, where British historian David Irving has sued American professor Deborah Lipstadt for defamation, is not only the scholars' reputations but history itself. Irving claims that he was libeled by Lipstadt's 1993 book, "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory," in which she called him "one of the most dangerous of the `revisionists'" because, "familiar with historical evidence, he bends it until it conforms with his ideological leanings and political agenda." But under British law, the burden of proof in defamation is squarely on the defendant, thus making it necessary for Lipstadt …

Book Review Of Silencing The Opposition: Government Strategies Of Suppression Of Freedom Of Expression, By Craig R. Smith, Jethro K. Lieberman

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Skunk In An Onion Patch Buchanan Threatens Dole If He Doesn't Shut Up-And America If He Does, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

Regardless of his finish in the primaries, Mr. Buchanan is determined to be heard from at the Republican National Convention in late summer. Mr. [Bob Dole] would like his endorsement for the votes it would provide, but cannot be serious about hoping "that Pat Buchanan would find it in his heart as a good Republican to join forces and close ranks." Can good Republicans be outright bigots? Does Mr. Dole have a political death wish?

What's in Mr. Buchanan's heart is the cause. "We'll go forward," he vowed on national television, "fighting for the cause." But the purity of the …