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Full-Text Articles in Law

Slavery And The History Of Congress's Enumerated Powers, Jeffrey Schmitt Feb 2022

Slavery And The History Of Congress's Enumerated Powers, Jeffrey Schmitt

Arkansas Law Review

In his first inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln declared, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” Like virtually all Americans before the Civil War, Lincoln believed in what historians call the “national consensus” on slavery. According to this consensus, Congress’s enumerated powers were not broad enough to justify any regulation of slavery within the states. Legal scholars who support the modern reach of federal powers have thus conventionally argued …


Put A Cork In It: The Use Of H.R. 161 To End Direct Wine Shipping Throughout The States Once And For All, Victoria H. Jones Jul 2021

Put A Cork In It: The Use Of H.R. 161 To End Direct Wine Shipping Throughout The States Once And For All, Victoria H. Jones

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Due to Congress' recent agenda, oenophiles throughout the country are up in arms about the possible threat to their beloved wine. Wine lovers and other alcohol enthusiasts face the very real fear that access to their favorite products may soon be heavily restricted. This is in large part attributed to the fact that House Resolution 1161 would effectively change the ways in which states regulate alcohol shipment. The possible implications of this bill range from the forced shutdown of many wineries and distilleries due to lack of funding, to the smaller effects of regulation such as the inability of customers …


The Gibbons Fallacy, Richard A. Primus Mar 2017

The Gibbons Fallacy, Richard A. Primus

Articles

In Gibbons v. Ogden, Chief Justice John Marshall famously wrote that "the enumeration presupposes something not enumerated." Modern courts use that phrase to mean that the Constitutions enumeration of congressional powers indicates that those powers are, as a whole, less than a grant of general legislative authority. But Marshall wasn't saying that. He wasn't talking about the Constitution's overall enumeration of congressional powers at all. He was writing about a different enumeration - the enumeration of three classes of commerce within the Commerce Clause. And Marshall's analysis of the Commerce Clause in Gibbons does not imply that the enumerated …


Putting The Commerce Back In The Dormant Commerce Clause: State Taxes, State Subsidies, And Commerce Neutrality, Ryan Lirette, Alan D. Viard Jan 2016

Putting The Commerce Back In The Dormant Commerce Clause: State Taxes, State Subsidies, And Commerce Neutrality, Ryan Lirette, Alan D. Viard

Journal of Law and Policy

The unpredictability of the Supreme Court’s dormant Commerce Clause (“DCC”) jurisprudence continues to draw trenchant criticism from commentators and the Justices themselves, as the Court remains unable to explain which state taxes and subsidies impede interstate commerce. We show that these problems can be resolved by a Commerce Neutrality framework requiring that state taxes and subsidies provide a combined treatment of inbound and outbound transactions at least as favorable as their treatment of intrastate transactions. This simple test has an economic foundation because taxes and subsidies that violate it create incentives to engage in intrastate rather than interstate transactions. The …


The Distinctiveness Of Appellate Adjudication, Heidi Li Feldman Jan 2012

The Distinctiveness Of Appellate Adjudication, Heidi Li Feldman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper concerns two topics which, I hope to show, are vitally connected. One is the distinctive importance of appellate adjudication in the legal system of United States. The other is the workings of entangled concepts in the law. That appellate adjudication is important in some sense may seem obvious to everybody (to a few it will seem obvious that appellate adjudication is unimportant). My point will be that via appellate adjudication courts engineer entangled legal concepts, and it is this aspect of appellate adjudication that is both crucial and unique to it, at least in the U.S. legal system. …


The Supreme Courts Municipal Bond Decision And The Market-Participant Exception To The Dormant Commerce Clause, Dan T. Coenen Jan 2009

The Supreme Courts Municipal Bond Decision And The Market-Participant Exception To The Dormant Commerce Clause, Dan T. Coenen

Scholarly Works

Does it violate the dormant Commerce Clause for a state to exempt interest earned on its own bonds, but no others, from income taxation? In a recent decision, the Supreme Court answered this question in the negative. Six members of the Court found the case controlled by the state-self-promotion exception to the dormancy doctrine's antidiscrimination rule. Three of those Justices, however, went further by also invoking the longstanding market-participant exception to sustain the discriminatory state tax break. This Essay challenges that alternative line of analysis. According to the author, the plurality's effort to apply the market-participant principle: (1) invites a …


A Marginal Tax: The New Franchise Tax In Texas Comment., David A. Vanderhider Jan 2008

A Marginal Tax: The New Franchise Tax In Texas Comment., David A. Vanderhider

St. Mary's Law Journal

Taxation has long been a point of contention for both individuals and businesses. Primarily, taxation serves as a convenient and calculated method of allocating precious resources to areas in need. Although many states use property and income taxes as the preferred methods for funding these programs, Texas has a constitutional restriction on state taxation of individuals’ incomes. This means Texas has largely relied on property and business taxes to fund these programs. In 1991, while trying to avoid unconstitutional taxes on individuals’ incomes, the Texas Legislature adopted a franchise tax which taxed Texas businesses according to their capital. In 2006, …


Constitutional Law—Commerce Clause—California Takes A Hit: The Supreme Court Upholds Congressional Authority Over The State-Approved Use Of Medicinal Marijuana. Gonzales V. Raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005)., Rick Behring Jr. Jul 2006

Constitutional Law—Commerce Clause—California Takes A Hit: The Supreme Court Upholds Congressional Authority Over The State-Approved Use Of Medicinal Marijuana. Gonzales V. Raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005)., Rick Behring Jr.

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.


Homegrown Child Pornography And The Commerce Clause: Where To Draw The Line On Interstate Production Of Child Pornography, Lauren Bianchini Dec 2005

Homegrown Child Pornography And The Commerce Clause: Where To Draw The Line On Interstate Production Of Child Pornography, Lauren Bianchini

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Lautenberg Amendment: Congress Hit The Mark By Banning Firearms From Domestic Violence Offenders Comment., Polly Mccann Pruneda Jan 1999

The Lautenberg Amendment: Congress Hit The Mark By Banning Firearms From Domestic Violence Offenders Comment., Polly Mccann Pruneda

St. Mary's Law Journal

Immediate action is critical to preserve the goals of the Lautenberg Amendment to protect victims of domestic violence from future abuse and their abusers. Incidents of gun-related domestic violence are not uncommon in the United States. Statistics show that domestic violence takes one life every three days and the combination of guns and domestic violence cause more deaths than incidents which are not associated with guns. In 1996, Congress attempted to find a solution to this problem. The Lautenberg Amendment, enacted pursuant to Congress’ Commerce Clause power, seeks to protect individuals from gun related injury or death occurring within domestic …


Title Iii Of The Violence Against Women Act: The Answer To Domestic Violence Or A Constitutional Time-Bomb Comment., Yvette J. Mabbun Jan 1997

Title Iii Of The Violence Against Women Act: The Answer To Domestic Violence Or A Constitutional Time-Bomb Comment., Yvette J. Mabbun

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was enacted in 1994 to combat the growing and widespread epidemic of domestic violence. Congressional committees assigned to study this epidemic found that violent attacks by men topped the list of dangers to an American woman’s health. In an attempt to raise society’s awareness of the problem of violence against women and to ameliorate the victimization of women, Congress enacted VAWA. Specifically, Title III of VAWA establishes a federal civil right for victims of violent, gender-motivated crimes. These provide victims with either injunctive or monetary compensation. Consequently, there have been questions about the constitutionality …


Federalism Revisited: The Supreme Court Resurrects The Notion Of Enumerated Powers By Limiting Congress's Attempt To Federalize Crime Comment., Larry E. Gee Jan 1995

Federalism Revisited: The Supreme Court Resurrects The Notion Of Enumerated Powers By Limiting Congress's Attempt To Federalize Crime Comment., Larry E. Gee

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Comment argues the federal system must be preserved and the Supreme Court should build upon the interpretation of the Commerce Clause in United States v. Lopez to reinstate the Framers’ vision of federalism. The social justifications for the Court’s expansive construction of the Commerce Clause during the past sixty years no longer existed to justify the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. Part II of this Comment traces the background of Commerce Clause jurisprudence, focusing on social justifications for traditional rubber stamping of Congress’s broad exercises of power. Part III reviews the Fifth Circuit’s reasoning in deeming the Gun-Free …