Constitutional Law Commons^™

In Need Of Direction: An Evaluation Of The "Direct Effect" Requirement Under Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act, Claire L. Leonard

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two Cases, Paul J. Larkin Jr.

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Curious Call For More Judicial Activism: Comment On Alexandra Klein's "The Freedom To Pursue A Common Calling", Mark Rush

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dtsa: The Litigator's Full-Employment Act, Sharon K. Sandeen

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Civil litigation is expensive, both for the party bringing suit and the party that must defend against such claims. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which are the usual requests for preliminary relief and protective orders, trade secret litigation is particularly expensive. These costs can have a crippling effect on small businesses and start-up companies that are accused of trade secret misappropriation, often resulting in litigation expenses that exceed the alleged harm to the plaintiff. Such litigation is particularly costly and unjust in cases where the plaintiff asserts rights that, due to common misunderstandings about the limited …

Brief Of Restitution And Remedies Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondent: Spokeo V. Robins, Doug Rendleman, Douglas Laycock, Mark P. Gergen

Scholarly Articles

Both consumer protection and restitution may be casualties in a collision with the constitutional law of standing.
/="/">
/="/">Spokeo collects information from the internet and publishes it; however, Spokeo neither verifies the facts nor confirms which same-named person it refers to. Robins alleges that Spokeo violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by disseminating false information about him. He seeks class certification and up to $1,000 in statutory minimum damages instead of compensatory damages. Spokeo argues that Robins lacks standing because he suffered no “injury in fact,” no “concrete harm.”
/="/">
/="/">Statutory minimum recoveries for defendants’ violations of plaintiffs’ …

Raze The Debt Ceiling: A Test Case For State-Sovereign And Institutional Bondholder Litigation To Void The Debt Limit Statute, Victor Williams

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In March 2015, the debt ceiling was hit again and sovereign default loomed. Refusing to timely raise the debt ceiling, congressional ideologues have four times pushed our nation to the brink of a catastrophic debt default in as many years. Our struggling economy is again threatened, financial institutions are again spending millions planning for default, and vulnerable citizens are once again worrying about their benefit payments. Enough is enough.

This Essay argues that nationwide bondholder litigation can void the unconstitutional debt ceiling, and it presents the first litigation in that effort. (Williams v. Lew, No. 15-1565, U.S. Court of Appeals …

Marriage, The Constitution, And The Future Of Family Law, Mark Strasser

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Marriage And Loving V. Virginia: Analogy Or Disanalogy?, Ronald Turner

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In its 1967 decision in Loving v. Virginia, the United States Supreme Court struck down Virginia antimiscegenation laws prohibiting and criminalizing interracial marriages, holding that the challenged laws violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In recent federal appeals court decisions, Loving has been invoked as an authoritative analogy supporting plaintiffs’ claims that same-sex marriage bans violate the Constitution. This Essay considers the posited Loving analogy and the contentions (1) that different-race marriage and same-sex marriage prohibitions present similar, albeit not identical, instances of unconstitutional state limitations on an …

Overcriminalizing Speech, Michal Buchhandler-Raphael

Scholarly Articles

Recent years have seen a significant expansion in the criminal justice system’s use of various preemptive measures, aimed to prevent harm before it occurs. This development consists of adopting a myriad of prophylactic statutes, including endangerment crimes, which target behaviors that merely pose a risk of future harm but are not in themselves harmful at the time they are committed.

This Article demonstrates that a significant portion of these endangerment crimes criminalize various forms of speech and expression. Examples include conspiracies, attempts, verbal harassment, instructional speech on how to commit crimes, and possession crimes. The Article argues that in contrast …

Justice Scalia's Fourth Amendment: Text, Context, Clarity, And Occasional Faint-Hearted Originalism, Timothy C. Macdonnell

Scholarly Articles

Since joining the United States Supreme Court in 1986, Justice Scalia has been a prominent voice on the Fourth Amendment, having written twenty majority opinions, twelve concurrences, and six dissents on the topic. Under his pen, the Court has altered its test for determining when the Fourth Amendment should apply; provided a vision to address technology's encroachment on privacy; and articulated the standard for determining whether government officials are entitled to qualified immunity in civil suits involving alleged Fourth Amendment violations. In most of Justice Scalia's opinions, he has championed an originalist/textualist theory of constitutional interpretation. Based on that theory, …

Children's Rights In The Midst Of Marriage Equality: Amicus Brief In Obergefell V. Hodges By Scholars Of The Constitutional Rights Of Children, Tanya Washington, Susannah Pollvogt, Catherine Smith, Lauren Fontana

Scholarly Articles

Many scholars have called for the acknowledgement and treatment of children's rights as constitutionally protected and enforceable, and Supreme Court precedent establishes that the government may not punish children for matters beyond children's control. Same-sex marriage bans and non-recognition laws, which are collectively referred to as marriage bans, impose prohibited punishment on children for being born into, or parented by, same-sex families. States argue that marriage is the optimal familial environment for children, yet marriage bans categorically exclude an entire class of children -- children in same-sex families -- from the legal, economic, and social benefits of marriage. In response …

Administrative Federalism As Separation Of Powers, David S. Rubenstein

Washington and Lee Law Review

Federal agencies are key players in our federalist system: they make front-line decisions about the scope of federal policy and whether such policy should preempt state law. How agencies perform these functions, and how they might fulfill them better, are questions at the heart of “administrative federalism.” Some academic proposals for administrative federalism work to enhance states’ ability to participate in federal agency decisionmaking. Other proposals work to protect state autonomy through adjustments to the Supreme Court’s administrative preemption doctrine. As jurists and scholars debate what these proposals entail for federalism, this Article doubles-down with a twist: it examines what …

Dr. Carb Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying About The Feds And Love States’ Rights, Dan Strong

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

Climate change is one of the largest environmental problems the world is currently facing. At the forefront of the climate change issue is the problem of carbon emissions. Environmentalists were hopeful that a national regulatory structure would be created with the enactment of the Clean Air Act in the 1970s. Since its enactment, however, it is clear the Clean Air Act was not the solution to the national carbon emissions problem environmentalists were hoping for. With the federal government failing to act, states have taken it upon themselves to regulate carbon emissions. California, with its enactment of the California Low …

Polymorphous Public Law Litigation:The Forgotten History Of Nineteenth Century Public Law Litigation, David Sloss

Washington and Lee Law Review

Recent debates about popular constitutionalism and judicial supremacy have focused on the question of who interprets the Constitution. This Article reframes the debate by asking what legal sources courts apply to protect individual rights from government infringement. Throughout the nineteenth century, federal courts applied a mix of international law, statutory, and common law to protect fundamental rights and restrain government action. This Article uncovers the forgotten history of nineteenth century public law litigation. Professors Post and Siegel have advocated “policentric constitutional interpretation,” wherein the Supreme Court shares authority for constitutional interpretation with other actors. By analogy, this Article introduces the …

Genetics, Race And Substantive Due Process, Christian B. Sundquist

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Lawless Rule Of The Norm In The Government Religious Speech Cases, Kyle Langvardt

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Recent History Of Gerrymandering In Florida: Revitalizing Davis V. Bandemer And Florida’S Constitutional Requirements On Redistricting, Devon Ombres

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Medical Assumption At The Foundation Of Roe V. Wade And Its Implications For Women's Health, Clarke Forsythe

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Roe V. Wade Was Written, David J. Garrow

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Backlash: Legal History, Polarization, And Roe V. Wade, Mary Ziegler

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Re-Reading Roe V. Wade, Richard S. Myers

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Abortion Exceptionalism And Undue Burden Preemption, Caitlin E. Borgmann

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Roe, Casey, And Sex-Selection Abortion Bans, Thomas J. Molony

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

If The Purpose Fits: The Two Functions Of Casey'S Purpose Inquiry, Priscilla J. Smith

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Previability Abortion And The Pain Of The Unborn, Teresa S. Collett

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Virginia's Targeted Regulations Of Abortion Providers: The Attempt To Regulation Abortion Out Of Existence, Katharine Greenier, Rebecca Glenberg

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Barriers To The Protection Of Viable Fetuses, Randy Beck

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keynote Address: Untying The Moral Knot Of Abortion, Caitlin E. Borgmann

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Roe'S Effects On Family Law, Lynne Marie Kohm

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Innocent Burdens, James Edwin Mahon

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.