Law Commons^™

A Constitutional Court In The Absence Of A Formal Constitution? On The Ramifications Of Appointing The Israeli Supreme Court As The Only Tribunal For Judicial Review, Guy E. Carmi

Guy E Carmi

This manuscript reviews an emerging debate in Israel regarding the appointment of the Supreme Court as a Constitutional Court. Specifically, it offers a critical analysis of the most recent proposed model, which is now in the initial legislative stages (The “Neeman Committee”), to appoint the Supreme Court as the sole constitutional arbiter.

First, the article offers an overview of the main processes that have occurred in the arena of Israeli constitutional law in the last decade, generally known as the “Constitutional Revolution.” Next, the article shows the nexus between this process and the revival of the constitutional court debate. Readers …

The Corporate "Person": A New Analytical Approach To A Flawed Method Of Constitutional Interpretation, Jess M. Krannich

Jess M. Krannich

No abstract provided.

What Is A Tragedy Of The Commons? Overfishing And The Campaign Spending Problem, Shi-Ling Hsu

Shi-Ling Hsu

Over the thirty-seven years since its publication, Garden Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons" has clearly become one of the most influential writings of all time. The tragedy of the commons is one of those rare scholarly ideas that has had an enormous impact in academia and is also commonly used outside of academia. In legal scholarship, the tragedy of the commons has been used to characterize a wide variety of resource problems, including intellectual property rights, overcrowding of telecommunications spectra, air and water pollution, and of course, the classic environmental commons problem, overfishing. But I suggest this embarrassment of citation …

Dampening The Illegitimacy Of The United States' Government: Reframing The Constitution From Contract To Promise, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Realistic political philosophers working in the United States face a serious problem. The public accepts as axiomatic the fundamental status of the 1789 Constitution. That Constitution, however, even as amended, is blatantly illegitimate, thus undermining any theoretical claim that citizens should respect (as opposed to obey) the existing national government. This paper tenders a method for shoring up the legitimacy of the federal government through the Constitution-as-promise. Realism is central to this project; I am discussing the words of the ratified document with its twenty-seven Article V-created amendments. I am not taking the common path of deflecting problems by building …

Federal Land Retention And The Constitution's Property Clause: The Original Understanding, Robert G. Natelson

Robert G. Natelson

This article examines the original meaning of the Constitution's clauses authorizing federal land ownership. It finds that the power granted to Congress was broad enough to include land ownership for enumerated purposes, even without complying the procedures necessary for the creation of federal enclaves. But it finds that the power was not broad enough to include indefinite landholding for unenumerated purposes.

Roundtable: Israeli Constitutionalism, Ron Harris

Ron Harris

No abstract provided.

The Israeli Constitutional Revolution/Evolution, Models Of Constitutions, And A Lesson Frommistakes And Achievements, Yoseph M. Edrey Prof.

Yoseph M. Edrey

There are some fundamental preconditions entailed in the process of becoming a democratic state. The mere existence of a written document entitled "Constitution" is not enough; a society is entitled to be considered a democratic state by the international community only if its legal sys- tem contains two attributes-the recognition of basic human rights and the idea that basic human rights are protected by some type of judicial review performed by an independent court system. Further- more, it would be better if these basic human rights were enumerated in a written constitution. Nonetheless, based on the Social Contract concept, the …

Agenda Setting, Issue Priorities, And Organizational Maintenance: The U.S. Supreme Court, 1955 To 1994, Jeff L. Yates, Andrew B. Whitford, William Gillespie

Jeff L Yates

In this study, we examine agenda setting by the U.S. Supreme Court, and ask the question of why the Court allocates more or less of its valuable agenda space to one policy issue over others. Our study environment is the policy issue composition of the Court's docket: the Court's attention to criminal justice policy issues relative to other issues. We model the Court's allocation of this agenda space as a function of internal organizational demands and external political signals. We find that this agenda responds to the issue priorities of the other branches of the federal government and the public. …

Juvenile Execution, Terrorist Extradition, And Supreme Court Discretion To Consider International Death Penalty Jurisprudence, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

European human rights law and multilateral conventions have raised United States death penalty policy to an international level. Treaties and international institutions have impacted the extradition of capital offenders and influenced the development of human rights law within the United States. Refusal to extradite without assurances that the death penalty will not be imposed has continuing ramifications for the implementation of transnational counter-terrorism measures. Determining a contemporary standard of decency regarding cruel and unusual punishment, what shocks the public conscious, or what constitutes torture depends upon what societal parameters one uses. The Supreme Court's readiness to examine international developments in …

The Scottish And English Religious Roots Of The American Right To Arms: Buchanan, Rutherford, Locke, Sidney, And The Duty To Overthrow Tyranny, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

Many twenty-first century Americans believe that they have a God-given right to possess arms as a last resort against tyranny. One of the most important sources of that belief is the struggle for freedom of conscience in the United Kingdom during the reigns of Elizabeth I and the Stuarts. A moral right and duty to use force against tyranny was explicated by the Scottish Presbyterians George Buchanan and Samuel Rutherford. The free-thinking English Christians John Locke and Algernon Sidney broadened and deepened the ideas of Buchanan and Rutherford. The result was a sophisticated defense of religious freedom, which was to …

The Religious Roots Of The American Revolution And The Right To Keep And Bear Arms, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

This article examines the religious background of the American Revolution. The article details how the particular religious beliefs of the American colonists developed so that the American people eventually came to believe that overthrowing King George and Parliament was a sacred obligation. The religious attitudes which impelled the Americans to armed revolution are an essential component of the American ideology of the right to keep and bear arms.

Lifting The Pall Of Orthodoxy: The Need For Hearing A Multitude Of Tongues In And Beyond The Sexual Education Curricula At Public High Schools, Carlo A. Pedrioli

Carlo A. Pedrioli

When public high schools promote heterosexuality at the cost of denying sexual minority youth the opportunity to learn about minority sexualities, these schools contribute to the disastrous situation in which many sexual minority high school students find themselves. This approach, which many public high schools take, is unnecessarily destructive and warrants prompt change. Instead of helping to perpetuate many of the challenges that sexual minority students face in high school, public high schools can and need to help address these challenges.

To establish the case for such a position, this article begins by presenting the plight of many sexual minority …

Under A Critical Race Theory Lens – Brown V. Board Of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone And Its Troubled Legacy, Carlo Pedrioli

Carlo A. Pedrioli

This critical book review argues that James T. Patterson’s narrative in, "Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy," is a mostly balanced historical reflection. Here, the term balanced will refer to giving consideration to both the negative and positive aspects of the phenomenon in question. To advance its thesis, the book review initially offers an overview of Patterson’s historical narrative and evaluation of the Brown legacy. Then the book review analyzes Patterson’s conclusions through a Critical Race Theory lens. Given the focus of Critical Race Theory on race and the law, especially on how …

The Heightened Standard Of Judicial Review In Cases Of Governmental Gender-Based Discrimination: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’S Influence On The U.S. Supreme Court In Craig V. Boren, Carlo A. Pedrioli

Carlo A. Pedrioli

This paper argues that, as an amicus curiae who was working for the American Civil Liberties Union, Ruth Bader Ginsburg influenced the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision-making in the landmark 1976 case of Craig v. Boren. Craig, which received national news coverage from the New York Times, provided women, and men, with greater protection against governmental gender-based discrimination. In making the argument, this paper initially provides a brief, but essential note on heightened scrutiny in equal protection cases. Next, the paper compares the arguments of Ginsburg and Justice William Brennan, who wrote the opinion of the Court. Finally, the paper explains …

Ohio Issue 1 Is Unconstitutional, Wilson R. Huhn

Wilson R. Huhn

This article discusses the constitutionality of Ohio Issue 1, an amendment to the state constitution that was adopted in a referendum by the people of the State of Ohio in November, 2004. The article consists of two parts. Part I sets forth arguments in support of the proposition that Ohio Issue 1 is unconstitutional. Part II sets forth arguments that have been or may be raised in support of Ohio Issue 1, and responds to each of those arguments.