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Full-Text Articles in Law

Trump's Supreme Court, Alan E. Garfield Dec 2016

Trump's Supreme Court, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


Speech And Strife, Robert L. Tsai Nov 2016

Speech And Strife, Robert L. Tsai

Robert L Tsai

The essay strives for a better understanding of the myths, symbols, categories of power, and images deployed by the Supreme Court to signal how we ought to think about its authority. Taking examples from free speech jurisprudence, the essay proceeds in three steps. First, Tsai argues that the First Amendment constitutes a deep source of cultural authority for the Court. As a result, linguistic and doctrinal innovation in the free speech area have been at least as bold and imaginative as that in areas like the Commerce Clause. Second, in turning to cognitive theory, he distinguishes between formal legal argumentation …


The Court-Packing Plan As Symptom, Casualty, And Cause Of Gridlock, Barry Cushman Oct 2016

The Court-Packing Plan As Symptom, Casualty, And Cause Of Gridlock, Barry Cushman

Barry Cushman

This essay, prepared for the Notre Dame Law Review's Symposium, “The American Congress: Legal Implications of Gridlock,” considers three ways in which President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1937 Court-packing bill was related to the phenomenon of gridlock in the 1930s. First, as FDR's public remarks on the subject demonstrate, he believed that the early New Deal was a victim of partisan gridlock between the Democrat-controlled political branches and the Republican-controlled judiciary. Moreover, he did not believe that the impasse could be overcome through an amendment to the Constitution, for he regarded Article V's supermajority requirements as virtually encoding gridlock into the …


Make It Count: Your Vote Is Vital In Determining The Future Of The Supreme Court, Alan E. Garfield Jul 2016

Make It Count: Your Vote Is Vital In Determining The Future Of The Supreme Court, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


Brief Of Arbitration Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, At&T Mobility Llc V. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740 (Supreme Court Of The United States 2011) (No. 09-893), Karen H. Cross Jun 2016

Brief Of Arbitration Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, At&T Mobility Llc V. Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740 (Supreme Court Of The United States 2011) (No. 09-893), Karen H. Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

No abstract provided.


Law And Religion Collide: Supreme Court Punts High-Profile Case Concerning The Legality Of Ensuring Female Contraception Insurance In The Face Of Religious Objections, Alan E. Garfield May 2016

Law And Religion Collide: Supreme Court Punts High-Profile Case Concerning The Legality Of Ensuring Female Contraception Insurance In The Face Of Religious Objections, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.


Constitutional Personhood, Zoe D. Robinson Apr 2016

Constitutional Personhood, Zoe D. Robinson

Zoe Robinson

Over the past decade, in a variety of high-profile cases, the Supreme Court has grappled with difficult questions as to the constitutional personhood of a variety of claimants. Of most note are the recent corporate constitutional personhood claims that the protections of the First Amendment Speech and Religion Clauses extend to corporate entities. Corporate constitutional personhood, however, is only a small slice of a broader constitutional question about who or what is entitled to claim the protection of any given constitutional right. Beyond corporations, courts are being asked to answer very real questions about a person’s constitutional status: Do aliens …


A Critique Of Hobby Lobby And The Supreme Court's Hands-Off Approach To Religion, Samuel J. Levine Apr 2016

A Critique Of Hobby Lobby And The Supreme Court's Hands-Off Approach To Religion, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

Over the past several decades, the United States Supreme Court has demonstrated an increasing refusal to engage in a close evaluation of the religious nature of Free Exercise and Establishment Clause claims, instead deferring to adherents’ characterizations of the substance and significance of a religious practice or belief. The Supreme Court’s hands-off approach, which it has justified on both constitutional and practical grounds, has attracted considerable scholarly attention, producing a substantial and growing body of literature assessing and, at times, critiquing the Court’s approach.

Part I of this Essay provides a brief overview for analyzing the Supreme Court’s hands-off approach …


A Critique Of Hobby Lobby And The Supreme Court's Hands-Off Approach To Religion, Samuel J. Levine Apr 2016

A Critique Of Hobby Lobby And The Supreme Court's Hands-Off Approach To Religion, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

Over the past several decades, the United States Supreme Court has demonstrated an increasing refusal to engage in a close evaluation of the religious nature of Free Exercise and Establishment Clause claims, instead deferring to adherents’ characterizations of the substance and significance of a religious practice or belief. The Supreme Court’s hands-off approach, which it has justified on both constitutional and practical grounds, has attracted considerable scholarly attention, producing a substantial and growing body of literature assessing and, at times, critiquing the Court’s approach.Part I of this Essay provides a brief overview for analyzing the Supreme Court’s hands-off approach to …


Advice And Consent: The Power Struggle Behind Merrick Garland’S Supreme Court Nomination, Alan E. Garfield Apr 2016

Advice And Consent: The Power Struggle Behind Merrick Garland’S Supreme Court Nomination, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

Editorial discussing nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.


Do Conservative Justices Favor Wall Street: Ideology And The Supreme Court's Securities Regulation Decisions, Marco Ventoruzzo, Johannes W. Fedderke Mar 2016

Do Conservative Justices Favor Wall Street: Ideology And The Supreme Court's Securities Regulation Decisions, Marco Ventoruzzo, Johannes W. Fedderke

Marco Ventoruzzo

The appointment of Supreme Court justices is a politically-charged process and the "ideology" (or "judicial philosophy") of the nominees is perceived as playing a potentially relevant role in their future decision-making. It is fairly easy to intuit that ideology somehow enters the analysis with respect to politically divisive issues such as abortion and procreative rights, sexual conduct, freedom of speech, separation of church and state, gun control, procedural protections for the accused in criminal cases, governmental powers. Many studies have tackled the question of the relevance of the ideology of the justices or appellate judges on these issues, often finding …


A Man Of Honor: Antonin Scalia (1936-2016), Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States, Alan E. Garfield Feb 2016

A Man Of Honor: Antonin Scalia (1936-2016), Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

Op ed on the death of Antonin Scalia.


The Supreme Court's Quiet Expansion Of Qualified Immunity, Kit Kinports Feb 2016

The Supreme Court's Quiet Expansion Of Qualified Immunity, Kit Kinports

Kit Kinports

This Essay discusses the Supreme Court’s tendency in recent opinions to covertly expand the reach of the qualified immunity defense available to public officials in § 1983 civil rights suits. In particular, the Essay points out that the Court, often in per curiam rulings, has described qualified immunity in increasingly broad terms and has qualified and retreated from its precedents, without offering any explanation or even acknowledging that it is deviating from past practice.In making this claim, I focus on three specific issues: the manner in which the Court characterizes the standard governing the qualified immunity defense; the question whether …


President Obama's Supreme Decision, Mary Brigid Mcmanamon Feb 2016

President Obama's Supreme Decision, Mary Brigid Mcmanamon

Mary Brigid McManamon

Op ed on presidential nomination of Supreme Court justices.


The Need For A New National Court, Douglas D. Mcfarland, Thomas E. Baker Feb 2016

The Need For A New National Court, Douglas D. Mcfarland, Thomas E. Baker

Thomas E. Baker

By any measure, the Supreme Court is tremendously overburdened. Statistics speak clearly on this point; sometimes they shout. After the caseload relief provided by the Judges' Bill, 4 which was passed in I925 and took effect during the I928 Term, the Supreme Court caseload grew slowly for thirty years. Beginning in the I96os, growth sharply accelerated, and during the I970S and I98os, the numbers exploded.


A Roundtable Discussion With Stephen L. Carter & Michael J. Gerhardt, Thomas E. Baker Feb 2016

A Roundtable Discussion With Stephen L. Carter & Michael J. Gerhardt, Thomas E. Baker

Thomas E. Baker

Transcript of a discussion regarding the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court justices and justice nominees, the Senate process for confirming nominees and related issues such as fitness to serve on the court and judicial activism.


Linking Law And Life: Justice Sotomayor’S Judicial Voice, Laura K. Ray Jan 2016

Linking Law And Life: Justice Sotomayor’S Judicial Voice, Laura K. Ray

Laura K. Ray

Analyzing the style of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's legal writing.


The Supreme Court's Love-Hate Relationship With Miranda, Kit Kinports Jan 2016

The Supreme Court's Love-Hate Relationship With Miranda, Kit Kinports

Kit Kinports

In recent years, the Supreme Court has enjoyed a love-hate relationship with its landmark decision in Miranda v. Arizona. While the Court has not hesitated to narrow Miranda’s reach, it has also been wary of deliberate efforts to circumvent it. This pragmatic approach to Miranda can be doctrinally unsatisfying and even incoherent at times, but it basically maintains the core structure of Miranda as the police have come to know and adapt to it. Last Term provided the first glimpse of the Roberts Court’s views on Miranda, as the Court considered three Miranda cases: Maryland v. Shatzer, Florida v. Powell, …


Labor Unions And Corporations Both Play Their Vital Roles, Alan E. Garfield Jan 2016

Labor Unions And Corporations Both Play Their Vital Roles, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

Discussion of Supreme Court case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.


Gay Marriage And The Problem Of Property, Andrea B. Carroll Dec 2015

Gay Marriage And The Problem Of Property, Andrea B. Carroll

Andrea Beauchamp Carroll

The Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision in Obergefell has been hailed in almost all corners as a milestone in American jurisprudence. From topics as varied as adoption and taxes, a myriad of rights have now descended upon gay couples as a result of the Court’s ruling. In this Commentary, we explore the little discussed downsides of the decision when it comes to the property rights and debts of the spouses. This is particularly important when considering the rights of third parties and their settled expectations in the context of retroactivity, as well the ways in which the Court’s decision may …