Constitutional Law Commons^™

On The Evolution Of The Canonical Dissent, Anita S. Krishnakumar

Faculty Publications

Legal theorists increasingly have come to recognize and study the existence of a constitutional canon composed of highly authoritative legal texts that command special reverence in the law. Among these highly authoritative texts are a series of dissenting opinions—e.g., Justice Holmes's in Lochner v. New York, and Justice Harlan's in Plessy v. Ferguson—that ironically are more famous than the majority opinions in most other cases. This Article examines the evolution of the dissenting canon, seeking to explain both the methods by which various dissenting opinions became canonized and the motivating factors behind these canonizations.

Specifically, the Article argues that the …

Cracking The Foundational Myths: Independence, Autonomy, And Self-Sufficiency, Martha Albertson Fineman

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Federalism, Individual Liberty, And The Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act Of 1998, Adam C. Pritchard

Articles

This Article proceeds in four parts. Part I provides background on the historical development of constitutional federalism, the Supreme Court's decisions in this area, and the apparent demise of constitutional limits on federal power. Part II then reviews the Court's revival of constitutional federalism over the last decade. Based on this review, I argue that the Supreme Court's current federalism doctrine can be understood as a "constrained libertarianism" that attempts to use constitutional structure as a check on government interference with individual liberty. In this model, states are respected in our constitutional system because of the counterbalance that they provide …

Are There Nothing But Texts In This Class? Interpreting The Interpretive Turns In Legal Thought, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Allan Hutchinson remarks at the beginning of his interesting article that Gadamer's writings have had only a peripheral influence on legal scholarship -- only occasionally cited, and then begrudgingly so, and never given the serious attention they deserve or require. Nevertheless, Hutchinson acknowledges, Gadamerian influences can be noted -- particularly in the now widely shared understanding that adjudication is, fundamentally, an interpretive exercise. Even with this qualification, though, I think Hutchinson understates Gadamer's impact. Whatever may be true of Gadamer's influence in other disciplines, his influence in law has been unambiguously both broad and deep -- although it has come …

Foreward, Adrienne D. Davis, Joan C. Williams

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Cracking The Foundational Myths: Independence, Autonomy, And Self-Sufficiency, Martha Albertson Fineman

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Cracking Foundations As Feminist Method , Katharine T. Bartlett

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Foreward, Adrienne D. Davis, Joan C. Williams

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Cracking Foundations As Feminist Method , Katharine T. Bartlett

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Recovering The Original Fourth Amendment, Thomas Y. Davies

Michigan Law Review

Claims regarding the original or intended meaning of constitutional texts are commonplace in constitutional argument and analysis. All such claims are subject to an implicit validity criterion - only historically authentic assertions should matter. The rub is that the original meaning commonly attributed to a constitutional text may not be authentic. The historical Fourth Amendment is a case in point. If American judges, lawyers, or law teachers were asked what the Framers intended when they adopted the Fourth Amendment, they would likely answer that the Framers intended that all searches and seizures conducted by government officers must be reasonable given …

The Strange History Of "All Men Are Created Equal", Pauline Maier

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The American Founders' Responsibility, Ralph Lerner

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Forgotten Constitutional History: The Production And Migration Of Meaning Within Constitutional Cultures, Gregory A. Mark

Michigan Law Review

When was the last time you read a serious, recently published work of constitutional history that did not deal mainly with the work of the Supreme Court? When, even among those works, did the author look beyond the immediate litigants to give the reader a sense of an evolving constitutional culture - a culture in symbiosis with the larger political and social culture - its eddies and byways, as well as its mainstream? My strong hunch is that anyone who can triumphantly respond to the implicit condemnation of narrowness in these questions will do so in large measure having read …

Create Your Own Constitutional Theory, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Qualities Of Completeness: More? Or Less?, Mark R. Killenbeck

Michigan Law Review

On January 14, 1983, Chief Judge W. Brevard Hand announced what he knew would be widely regarded as a rather startling proposition. Believing that "[t]he first amendment in large part was a guarantee to the states which insured that the states would be able to continue whatever church-state relationship existed in 1791," Judge Hand held that the people of Alabama were perfectly free to "establish[] a religion," in this instance by allowing public school teachers to begin the school day with prayer. The ruling reversed an earlier decision in the same case, which characterized the statutory provision at issue as …

Appendix: Biographies Of Participants , American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Should Progressives Support The Constitution?, Steven H. Shiffrin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In the closing pages of Constitutional Faith Sanford Levinson asks himself whether he would have signed the Constitution in Philadelphia, warts and all. He concludes that he would have joined the signers primarily because of a progressive faith that the evils of the Constitution would erode with time. So too, Levinson's frequent co-author J.M. Balkin, asks in the midst of a symposium on fidelity in constitutional theory, whether the present Constitution deserves our fidelity. Balkin does not deny the presence of sanctioned evil under our Constitution. He suggests, for example, that the Constitution fails to protect the poor. In so …

Transcript: Responses To The Debate On Whether Congress Must End The Disenfranchisement Of The District Of Columbia , American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reconceiving The Right To Present Witnesses, Richard A. Nagareda

Michigan Law Review

Modem American law is, in a sense, a system of compartments. For understandable curricular reasons, legal education sharply distinguishes the law of evidence from both constitutional law and criminal procedure. In fact, the lines of demarcation between these three subjects extend well beyond law school to the organization of the leading treatises and case headnotes to which practicing lawyers routinely refer in their trade. Many of the most interesting questions in the law, however, do not rest squarely within a single compartment; instead, they concern the content and legitimacy of the lines of demarcation themselves. This article explores a significant, …

Cardozo And The Art Of Biography, Andrew L. Kaufman

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transcript: Welcome Address, American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transcript: What Makes The District An Anomaly? , American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transcript: Must Congress End The Disenfranchisement Of The District Of Columbia? A Constitutional Debate , American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transcript: The Nature Of The American Constitution: Is There A Constitutional Right To Vote And Be Represented? , American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transcript: Keynote Address , American University Law Review

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Too Much (Legislation) Is Never Enough: Utilizing A Court's Equity Power To Enjoin Lawful Firearm Sales, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1225 (1999), Edward G. Renner

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Limits Of Power: Judicial Restraint In General Jurisdiction Court Systems, Justice Philip A. Talmadge

Seattle University Law Review

This Article draws on my legislative and judicial background to focus both on the tendency of the courts to exceed their core constitutional role and the implications of such judicial activism. This article contend that modern courts of general jurisdiction are too often embroiled in sociopolitical controversies best left to the political branches of government. Part I addresses the concept of judicial restraint in our constitutional system and the need to define the core powers of the judicial branch of government. Part II discusses principles of judicial restraint in the federal courts. Part III, using the example of Washington State …

Licensed To Steal: Has Sovereign Immunity Gone Too Far, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 779 (1999), Sulaiman M. Qazi

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

What Spending Clause? - (Or The President's Paramour): An Examination Of The Views Of Hamilton, Madison, And Story On Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 Of The United States Constitution, 33 J. Marshall L. Rev. 81 (1999), Jeffrey T. Renz

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is The Excessive Fines Clause Excessively Kind To Money Launderers, Drug Dealers, And Tax Evaders, 33 J. Marshall L. Rev. 243 (1999), Ann Jennings Maron

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.