Constitutional Law Commons^™

February 10, 2019: This Political Moment, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “This Political Moment“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

February 2, 2019: Leaver Agriculture, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Leaver Agriculture“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Code Mixing As A Form Of Indonesian Identity Based On The Motto Of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, Fajar Muhammad Nugraha

International Review of Humanities Studies

In 2018, the Language Comission of the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) of the Republic of Indonesia has made verification towards all the languages that exists in Indonesia. The verification conducted from 1991 to 2017 resulted in 652 languages to be found. That number still does not include the dialects and their sub-divisions of the 652 languages. Meanwhile, UNESCO recorded 143 languages based on their vitality status. Identity can be interpreted as similarity or unity with others in a certain area or other things (Rummens, 1993: 157-159). "The identity possessed by an individual can be in the form of …

January 29, 2019: How To Save American Democracy, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “How to Save American Democracy“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 26, 2019: Why There Is No Left Federalist Society, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Why There is No Left Federalist Society“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 21, 2019: Why Wasn't Fukuyama Right?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Why Wasn't Fukuyama Right?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 20, 2010: Love Driven Politics, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Love Driven Politics“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

January 15, 2019: What’S Wrong?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “What’s Wrong?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

If Separation Of Church And State Doesn’T Demand Separating Religion From Politics, Does Christian Doctrine Require It?, Samuel W. Calhoun

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This Essay responds to comments by Wayne Barnes, Ian Huyett, and David Smolin on my prior Article, Separation of Church and State: Jefferson, Lincoln, and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Show It Was Never Intended to Separate Religion From Politics. Part II, although noting a few disagreements with Huyett and Smolin, principally argues that they strengthen the case for the appropriateness of religious arguments in the public square. Part III evaluates Wayne Barnes’s contention that Christian doctrine requires separating religion from politics.

What Has Gone Wrong And What Can We Do About It?, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

What Is The Best Model For Investigating Presidential Wrongdoing Today?, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

A Call For America’S Law Professors To Oppose Court-Packing, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

How State Courts Can Help America Recover The Rule Of Law: The Pennsylvania Experience, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

Originalism And The Law Of The Past, William Baude, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

Originalism has long been criticized for its “law office history” and other historical sins. But a recent “positive turn” in originalist thought may help make peace between history and law. On this theory, originalism is best understood as a claim about our modern law — which borrows many of its rules, constitutional or otherwise, from the law of the past. Our law happens to be the Founders’ law, unless lawfully changed.

This theory has three important implications for the role of history in law. First, whether and how past law matters today is a question of current law, not of …

Free Speech And Justified True Belief, Joseph Blocher

Faculty Scholarship

Law often prioritizes justified true beliefs. Evidence, even if probative and correct, must have a proper foundation. Expert witness testimony must be the product of reliable principles and methods. Prosecutors are not permitted to trick juries into convicting a defendant, even if that defendant is truly guilty. Judges’ reasons, and not just the correctness of their holdings, are the engines of precedent. Lawyers are, in short, familiar with the notion that one must be right for the right reasons.

And yet the standard epistemic theory of the First Amendment—that the marketplace of ideas is the “best test of truth”—has generally …

Smith, Scalia, And Originalism, Amul R. Thapar

Catholic University Law Review

To many principled Originalists and proponent of religious liberty, the opinion in Employment Division v. Smith poses a puzzle. Many commentators believe Smith contradicts the original meaning of the Free Exercise Clause and hinders the right to religious freedom. Yet it was written by Justice Scalia, a self-professed Originalist and lion of the law. I attempt to resolve this puzzle, reviewing Justice Scalia’s speeches and opinions on religious liberty. Ultimately, Justice Scalia’s opinion in Smith reflects his commitments to certain jurisprudential principles. Viewing these principles in the light of New Originalism, though, it becomes clear how Smith most likely does …

Whose Market Is It Anyway? A Philosophy And Law Critique Of The Supreme Court’S Free-Speech Absolutism, Spencer Bradley

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In the wake of Charlottesville, the rise of the alt-right, and campus controversies, the First Amendment has fallen into public scrutiny. Historically, the First Amendment’s “marketplace of ideas” has been a driving source of American political identity; since Brandenburg v. Ohio, the First Amendment protects all speech from government interference unless it causes incitement. The marketplace of ideas allows for the good and the bad ideas to enter American society and ultimately allows the people to decide their own course.

Yet, is the First Amendment truly a tool of social progress? Initially, the First Amendment curtailed war-time dissidents and …

Right To Privacy, A Complicated Concept To Review, Ali Alibeigi, Abu Bakar Munir, Md Ershadul Karim

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The Concept and definition of the privacy has been changed during the time affecting by different factors. At the same time, the boundaries of privacy may differ from one place to another affecting by the culture, religion, etc. Nonetheless, there is not a unique general accepted definition for the privacy. Privacy has been considered from different disciplines like sociology, psychology, law and philosophy. It is a multidisciplinary domain, having an easy concept but difficult to define. However, by reviewing all different viewpoints, it can be concluded that privacy is an individual tendency, wish and natural need to be away from …

The Influence Of The Warren Court And Natural Rights On Substantive Due Process, James Marmaduke

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Advanced Research Winner 2019:

While the concept of substantive due process has guided judicial decision making even prior to the Civil War, it has become a lightning rod among the juristic community especially since the 1960s. This controversy includes issues ranging from the applicability and reliability to the cogency and legitimacy of the doctrine of substantive due process Many scholars attribute the skepticism toward the concept of substantive due process to be the result of a paradigm shift in the middle of the 20^th century when this concept transitioned from an economic and property rights based approach to one …

Grounding Originalism, William Baude, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

How should we interpret the Constitution? The “positive turn” in legal scholarship treats constitutional interpretation, like the interpretation of statutes or contracts, as governed by legal rules grounded in actual practice. In our legal system, that practice requires a certain form of originalism: our system’s official story is that we follow the law of the Founding, plus all lawful changes made since.

Or so we’ve argued. Yet this answer produces its own set of questions. How can practice solve our problems, when there are so many theories of law, each giving practice a different role? Why look to an official …

December 28, 2018: Holiday Travel, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ Holiday Travel“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 25, 2018: The Parable That Ends The Novel, The Chosen Is A Christmas Parable, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Parable that Ends the Novel, The Chosen is a Christmas Parable“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 23, 2018: More Of The New Mark Lilla, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “More of the New Mark Lilla“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 18, 2018: The Continuing Disintegration Of Politics In America, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Continuing Disintegration of Politics in America“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 14, 2018: What Will Post-Christianity Look Like?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “What Will Post-Christianity Look Like?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 10, 2018: The Democrats’ God Problem, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Democrats’ God Problem“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 7, 2018: Needed: A Party Of Democracy, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Needed: A Party of Democracy“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Obama Judge And The Foundations Of The Rule Of Law, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

December 1, 2018: "I Retired", Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, "I Retired“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 24, 2018: Letter About Kornacki's Book, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ Letter about Kornacki's book“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.