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Articles 61 - 90 of 332
Full-Text Articles in Constitutional Law
How Law Employs Historical Narratives: The Great Compromise As An Example, Louis J. Sirico Jr.
How Law Employs Historical Narratives: The Great Compromise As An Example, Louis J. Sirico Jr.
Pepperdine Law Review
Although historians base their interpretations on facts, they often use the same facts to tell a variety of stories. Of the varying stories, which gain acceptance by society and the courts? To explore this question, this Article examines the historiography of the Great Compromise. At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the deputies debated how to elect members of the House and Senate. Should each state have equal representation or should each state have representation based on its population? The heavily populated states wanted population-based (proportional) representation while the less populated states wanted a one-state-one-vote system. After difficult debates, the Convention, by …
Economic Protectionism: Irrationally Constitutional, Joshua Park
Economic Protectionism: Irrationally Constitutional, Joshua Park
Pepperdine Law Review
The Constitution is built on the principle that all citizens are created equal. Naturally, we believe that no law should be passed solely for the sake of benefiting one group over another. Yet, governments continue to pass economic regulations that have no purpose other than maintaining wealth within a specific group, and the judiciary continues to uphold such regulations. While the judiciary purports to uphold challenged legislation only if it passes “rational basis review,” the term “review” is a misnomer because the analysis has essentially become automatic deference. Under the judiciary’s modern treatment of the Equal Protection Clause, successfully challenging …
A Diverse Student Body Without Student Bodies?: Online Classrooms And Affirmative Action, Ryan H. Nelson
A Diverse Student Body Without Student Bodies?: Online Classrooms And Affirmative Action, Ryan H. Nelson
Pepperdine Law Review
America’s public universities engage students in myriad classroom environments that range from traditional, entirely-in-person classroom environments to entirely-online, virtual classrooms, with every shade of grey in between. These varied learning environments pose a fascinating question with respect to the ways such universities use affirmative action in admissions. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the United States Supreme Court held that “student body diversity is a compelling state interest that can justify the use of race in university admissions.” Indeed, student body diversity remains one of the few “compelling interests” that the Court has held satisfies the constitutional imperative that the “government may …
The Vice Presidency In Five (Sometimes) Easy Pieces, Vikram David Amar
The Vice Presidency In Five (Sometimes) Easy Pieces, Vikram David Amar
Pepperdine Law Review
The public perception of the Vice President is that of an individual with little actual authority, but who has the potential to be thrust into the most powerful office in the world. But the modern Vice President has additional responsibilities that many often forget. Contrary to public perception, the Vice President’s role as President of the Senate carries important Constitutional responsibilities, such as the ability to weigh-in with tie-breaking votes in the Senate or preside over impeachment trials. Though overlooked, these are important and powerful responsibilities. Additionally, the Vice President has assumed the role of Presidential “running mate” and with …
Oh, Vpotus, Where Art Thou? The Constitutional Situs Of The Vice Presidency As Surveyed By A Former Vice Presidential Lawyer, Shannen W. Coffin
Oh, Vpotus, Where Art Thou? The Constitutional Situs Of The Vice Presidency As Surveyed By A Former Vice Presidential Lawyer, Shannen W. Coffin
Pepperdine Law Review
A dispute between a federal oversight authority and the Office of the Vice President (OVP) prompted an unprecedented public discussion regarding the proper location and role of the vice presidency when Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff challenged an audit of classified information on the grounds that the OVP was not an entity within the Executive Branch. The modern role of the Vice President is generally viewed as advisor and supporter of the President, with all executive authority vested in the President. Conversely, the Vice President presides as President of the Senate, casting tie-breaking votes when necessary. This dual role invokes …
The Vice Presidency In The Twenty-First Century, Jody C. Baumgartner
The Vice Presidency In The Twenty-First Century, Jody C. Baumgartner
Pepperdine Law Review
The vice presidency has undergone almost revolutionary change since its inception 227 years ago. Conceived as a convenient solution to a problem created by the Electoral College, the Vice President has only two constitutional functions—to serve as a successor to the President and as the President of the Senate. However, over the past sixty years, vice presidents have become increasingly part of and integral to American governance, and the last three (Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Joe Biden) have been exceptionally active executive actors. What was once an all-but forgotten office is now an essential part of a president’s administration. …
The Vice President-More Than An Afterthought?, Richard B. Cheney, Edwin Meese Iii, Douglas W. Kmiec
The Vice President-More Than An Afterthought?, Richard B. Cheney, Edwin Meese Iii, Douglas W. Kmiec
Pepperdine Law Review
A round-table discussion among former U.S. Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Caruso Family Professor of Law and retired U.S. Ambassador Douglas Kmiec, and former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III considered the practical implications of conceiving the Vice President as a legislative officer, an executive officer, or both. It was noted that until the second half of the twentieth century, the Office of the Vice President was conceived as legislative. Funding for the Office appeared in budget lines relating to Congress and physically, the Vice President’s office was in the Capitol. Beginning with Walter Mondale’s service as Vice President, presidents …
A Constitutional Afterthought: The Origins Of The Vice Presidency, 1787 To 1804, Edward J. Larson
A Constitutional Afterthought: The Origins Of The Vice Presidency, 1787 To 1804, Edward J. Larson
Pepperdine Law Review
At the origins of the office, even though the Vice President was, as its first occupant John Adams declared, “only one breath” away from the presidency, the Office of the Vice President was an afterthought of the Constitutional Convention. Never discussed during the first three months of the four-month long Convention, the Committee of Eleven introduced the vice presidency as a byproduct of how it resolved to fix the presidential selection process. Under this process, the Electoral College emerged, with each state assigned the same number of electors as its members in the House of Representatives and Senate. Each elector …
Failure To Act And The Separation Of Powers-The Vice Presidency And The Need To Surmount Divided Power In Pursuit Of A Workable Government, Douglas W. Kmiec
Failure To Act And The Separation Of Powers-The Vice Presidency And The Need To Surmount Divided Power In Pursuit Of A Workable Government, Douglas W. Kmiec
Pepperdine Law Review
Is the Vice President an executive officer, a legislative officer, or both? This query has existed since the time of the founding. The question poses more difficulty than one might suppose, and it remains unsettled. It can be convenient to ignore questions that one cannot answer, and thus, the Vice President has been the object of political humor and treated as an appendage without present function. Yet, because we attribute great genius to those who drafted the Constitution, what is the effect of leaving this high-ranking officer without adequate definition or purpose? For the first century and a half of …
Protecting America’S Children: Why An Executive Order Banning Juvenile Solitary Confinement Is Not Enough, Carina Muir
Protecting America’S Children: Why An Executive Order Banning Juvenile Solitary Confinement Is Not Enough, Carina Muir
Pepperdine Law Review
Despite its devastating psychological, physical, and developmental effects on juveniles, solitary confinement is used in juvenile correctional facilities across the United States. This Comment posits that such treatment violates the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause, the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It likewise argues that that President Obama’s recent Executive Order banning juvenile solitary confinement is simply not a powerful enough remedy and discusses why it must be paired with Congressional legislation or Supreme Court jurisprudence if it is to …
The Indefinite Deflection Of Congressional Standing, Nat Stern
The Indefinite Deflection Of Congressional Standing, Nat Stern
Pepperdine Law Review
Recent litigation brought or threatened against the administration of President Obama has brought to prominence the question of standing by Congress or its members to sue the President for nondefense or non-enforcement of federal law. While scholars divide over the normative propriety of such suits, the Court has never issued a definitive pronouncement on their viability. Nevertheless, the Court’s rulings when the issue has arisen have displayed a distinct pattern. While the Court has not formally repudiated suits of this nature, neither has it issued a decision that hinges on the presence of congressional standing. On the contrary, the Court …
Standing And Covert Surveillance, Christopher Slobogin
Standing And Covert Surveillance, Christopher Slobogin
Pepperdine Law Review
This Article describes and analyzes standing doctrine as it applies to covert government surveillance, focusing on practices thought to be conducted by the National Security Agency. Primarily because of its desire to avoid judicial incursions into the political process, the Supreme Court has construed its standing doctrine in a way that makes challenges to covert surveillance very difficult. Properly understood, however, such challenges do not call for judicial trenching on the power of the legislative and executive branches. Instead, they ask the courts to ensure that the political branches function properly. This political process theory of standing can rejuvenate the …
The Admissibility Of Confessions Compelled By Foreign Coercion: A Compelling Question Of Values In An Era Of Increasing International Criminal Cooperation, Geoffrey S. Corn, Kevin Cieply
The Admissibility Of Confessions Compelled By Foreign Coercion: A Compelling Question Of Values In An Era Of Increasing International Criminal Cooperation, Geoffrey S. Corn, Kevin Cieply
Pepperdine Law Review
This Article proceeds on a simple and clear premise: a confession extracted by torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment should never be admitted into evidence in a U.S. criminal trial. Whether accomplished through extending the Due Process or Self-Incrimination based exclusionary rules to foreign official coercion, or by legislative action, such exclusion is necessary to align evidentiary practice regarding confessions procured by foreign agents with our nation's fundamental values as reflected in the Fifth Amendment and our ratification of the CAT. This outcome is not incompatible with Connelly. Rather, this Article explores the limits of the Court's language in …
Guaranteeing Republics To The Confederate States: A Guarantee Clause Justification For Lincoln’S Response To Civil War, Michael Morea
Guaranteeing Republics To The Confederate States: A Guarantee Clause Justification For Lincoln’S Response To Civil War, Michael Morea
Pepperdine Law Review
There has been substantial debate over the constitutionality of Lincoln’s response to secession and his role as executive during the Civil War. While many historians and legal experts accept the theory that Lincoln, as president, was vested by Article II with power to act decisively in suppressing secession in an effort to preserve the Union, there is branch of libertarian thought that remains unconvinced that his tactics were constitutional. For example, three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul, in an interview with “Meet the Press,” stated that Lincoln should not have gone to war, arguing that Lincoln’s actions were motivated by the …
“Islamic Law” In Us Courts: Judicial Jihad Or Constitutional Imperative?, Faisal Kutty
“Islamic Law” In Us Courts: Judicial Jihad Or Constitutional Imperative?, Faisal Kutty
Pepperdine Law Review
At the beginning of 2014, about a dozen states introduced or re-introduced bills to ban the use of Sharī’ah law. They hope to join the seven states that have ostensibly banned it to date. Anti-Sharī’ah advocates have cited a number of cases to back their tenuous claim that Sharī’ah is stealthily sneaking in through the doctrine of comity, but a close examination of the cases they cite contradicts their claim. Comity, when one court defers to the jurisdiction of another, has been accepted and denied based on legal principles and public policy, on a case-by-case basis. There is no creeping …
Foreign And Religious Family Law: Comity, Contract, And The Constitution, Ann Laquer Estin
Foreign And Religious Family Law: Comity, Contract, And The Constitution, Ann Laquer Estin
Pepperdine Law Review
The article focuses on role of the U.S. courts in confronting religious laws in dispute resolution of various cases of domestic relations, contracts, and torts. Topics discussed include role of secular courts in maintaining constitutional balance between the free exercise and establishment clauses, constitutional challenges faced by religious adherents, and importance of legal pluralism in the U.S.
Rethinking The “Religious-Question” Doctrine, Christopher C. Lund
Rethinking The “Religious-Question” Doctrine, Christopher C. Lund
Pepperdine Law Review
The “religious question” doctrine is a well-known and commonly accepted notion about the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses. The general idea is that, in our system of separated church and state, courts do not decide religious questions. And from this premise, many things flow — including the idea that courts must dismiss otherwise justiciable controversies when they would require courts to resolve religious questions. Yet a vexing thought arises. The religious-question doctrine traditionally comes out of a notion that secular courts cannot resolve metaphysical or theological issues. But when one looks at the cases that courts have been dismissing pursuant to …
Response: Situating Ourselves In History, Steven D. Smith
Response: Situating Ourselves In History, Steven D. Smith
Pepperdine Law Review
The author presents his views on history of religious freedom incorporated in his Brandeis lecture and in the book "The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom." Topics discussed include hegemonic status of special protection to religious freedom for legal academics, role of ending religious freedom in providing protection to religious actors under other constitutional provisions like free speech, and impact of ending religious freedom on other freedom like freedom of association.
The End Of Religious Freedom: What Is At Stake?, Nelson Tebbe
The End Of Religious Freedom: What Is At Stake?, Nelson Tebbe
Pepperdine Law Review
In recent work, Steven Smith argues that the American tradition of religious freedom is newly imperiled and may even be nearing exhaustion. This Review puts to one side the substance of that argument and focuses instead on what the stakes might be, should it turn out to be correct. It concludes that the consequences would not be as severe as many people fear.
More “Vitiating Paradoxes”: A Response To Steven D. Smith, Paul Horwitz
More “Vitiating Paradoxes”: A Response To Steven D. Smith, Paul Horwitz
Pepperdine Law Review
In this article, the author presents his views in response to the article The Last Chapter? by critic Steven D. Smith. Topics discussed include importance of critical legal studies (CLS) theory in reflecting political aspects of religious freedom, views of Smith in his book "The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom," and the relationship of egalitarianism with religious freedom.
Theorists, Get Over Yourselves: A Response To Steven D. Smith, Andrew Koppelman
Theorists, Get Over Yourselves: A Response To Steven D. Smith, Andrew Koppelman
Pepperdine Law Review
In this article, the author presents his views in response to the article The Last Chapter? by critic of contemporary liberal theory Steven D. Smith in reference to his book "Defending American Religious Neutrality." Topics discussed include the political aspects associated with religious freedom, role of secularism in eroding religious freedom, and conflicts between religion and modern secular egalitarianism.
The Last Chapter?, Steven D. Smith
The Last Chapter?, Steven D. Smith
Pepperdine Law Review
An essay is presented in which the author presents contrasting views of law professors at Stanford and Harvard University, Michael McConnell and Noah Feldman respectively on religious freedom. Topics discussed include requirement of special protection to religious freedom, protection of religious belief and expression under other constitutional provisions such as freedom of speech, and the failure of Obama Administration in providing special freedom of association to religious associations.
A Primer On Hobby Lobby: For-Profit Corporate Entities’ Challenge To The Hhs Mandate, Free Exercise Rights, Rfra’S Scope, And The Nondelegation Doctrine, Terri R. Day, Leticia M. Diaz, Danielle Weatherby
A Primer On Hobby Lobby: For-Profit Corporate Entities’ Challenge To The Hhs Mandate, Free Exercise Rights, Rfra’S Scope, And The Nondelegation Doctrine, Terri R. Day, Leticia M. Diaz, Danielle Weatherby
Pepperdine Law Review
Earlier this term, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in the consolidated case of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius, the first of a litany of cases in which for-profit business entities are invoking the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA") in support of their claim that the Affordable Care Act’s HHS Mandate violates their freedom of religion. In particular, these plaintiffs argue that the Mandate’s requirement that employer-provided health insurance covers the costs of contraceptives, the "morning after" pill, and other fertility-related drugs conflicts with their deeply-held religious belief that life begins at conception and is, therefore, unconstitutional. …
Dicta And The Rule Of Law, Ryan S. Killian
Dicta And The Rule Of Law, Ryan S. Killian
Pepperdine Law Review
This Essay is about dicta. Like Olson, the Essay will not spend much time arguing about the definition of dicta. Rather, it analyzes rule of law issues as they pertain to dicta. Does the definition of dicta matter? Does reliance on dicta by subsequent courts raise rule of law concerns? The answer to both questions is yes.
Ending Perpetual War? Constitutional War Termination Powers And The Conflict Against Al Qaeda, David A. Simon
Ending Perpetual War? Constitutional War Termination Powers And The Conflict Against Al Qaeda, David A. Simon
Pepperdine Law Review
This Article presents a framework for interpreting the constitutional war termination powers of Congress and the President and applies this framework to questions involving how and when the war against Al Qaeda and associated forces could end. Although constitutional theory and practice suggest the validity of congressional actions to initiate war, the issue of Congress’s constitutional role in ending war has received little attention in scholarly debates. Theoretically, this Article contends that terminating war without meaningful cooperation between the President and Congress generates tension with the principle of the separation of powers underpinning the U.S. constitutional system, with the Framers’ …
Treading Water: Can Municipal Efforts To Condemn Underwater Mortgages Prevail?, Michael S. Moskowitz
Treading Water: Can Municipal Efforts To Condemn Underwater Mortgages Prevail?, Michael S. Moskowitz
Pepperdine Law Review
No abstract provided.
Preserving Home Rule: The Text, Purpose, And Political Theory Of California’S Municipal Affairs Clause, Brett A. Stroud
Preserving Home Rule: The Text, Purpose, And Political Theory Of California’S Municipal Affairs Clause, Brett A. Stroud
Pepperdine Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Rapid Rise Of Delayed Notice Searches, And The Fourth Amendment “Rule Requiring Notice”, Jonathan Witmer-Rich
The Rapid Rise Of Delayed Notice Searches, And The Fourth Amendment “Rule Requiring Notice”, Jonathan Witmer-Rich
Pepperdine Law Review
This article documents the rapid rise of covert searching, through delayed notice search warrants, and argues that covert searching in its current form presumptively violates the Fourth Amendment’s “rule requiring notice.” Congress authorized these “sneak and peek” warrants in the USA Patriot Act, in 2001, and soon after added a reporting requirement to monitor this invasive search technique. Since 2001, the use of delayed notice search warrants has risen dramatically, from around 25 in 2002 to 5,601 in 2012, suggesting that “sneak and peek” searches are becoming alarmingly common. In fact, it is not at all clear whether true “sneak …
All For One, And One For All-Comers! University Nondiscrimination Policies In Light Of Hosanna-Tabor And The Ministerial Exception, Zach Tafoya
Pepperdine Law Review
In light of the more recent Hosanna-Tabor decision, this Comment seeks to answer these questions by extending the reasoning behind the ministerial exception to the university context in order to build a foundation upon which a future exception can be built to ensure that religious student groups are sufficiently free to choose their own leaders. Part II sets forth a brief history of the ministerial exception and its application in the circuit courts. Part III addresses two recent Supreme Court cases, Martinez and Hosanna-Tabor, and their practical effect on religious liberty, as well as the public’s perception of both cases. …
Once We Were Slaves, Now We Are Free: Legal, Administrative, And Social Issues Raised By Passover Celebrations In Prison, Aviva Orenstein
Once We Were Slaves, Now We Are Free: Legal, Administrative, And Social Issues Raised By Passover Celebrations In Prison, Aviva Orenstein
Pepperdine Law Review
“Once we were slaves, now we are free” is a central line from the Jewish Passover Seder, a ritual meal in which participants retell the story of liberation from Pharaoh’s oppression. In prison, many Jewish inmates request access to a Seder and to kosher-for-Passover food for the eight-day holiday. Prisoners’ requests to celebrate Passover provide a rich example for exploring the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act (RLUIPA), and raise a host of tough questions regarding cost, safety, equal treatment of prisoners, and establishment of religion. Because kosher-for-Passover meals are more expensive and generally of higher quality than regular …