Constitutional Law Commons^™

Challenging Defamatory Opinions As An Alternative To Media Self-Regulation, James F. Ponsoldt

Scholarly Works

This Essay analyzes defamation law as it applies to the media. Part I summarizes the state of defamation law prior to the 1990 Supreme Court decision in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., when opinion was presumed immune from liability. Part II examines the holding in Milkovich, which suggests the potential liability for recklessly defamatory statements couched as or in the context of opinion. Part III reviews post-Milkovich decisions during the 1990's. This Essay concludes that the predictions of Milkovich were accurate in many jurisdictions and could apply to televised allegations during the coverage of the Clinton affair. …

The Shifting Preemption Paradigm: Conceptual And Interpretive Issues, Karen A. Jordan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent decisions have signaled a subtle shift away from the Supreme Court's categorical approach to the issue of federal preemption of state law, and toward a preemption continuum in which the implied preemption theories may inform an express preemption analysis. Yet, the Court as a whole has avoided addressing the issues arising from the integration of the doctrines. In this Article, Professor Jordan explores some of these difficult issues. The conceptual issues concern when and how the implied theories should be used in an analysis involving an express preemption clause. She analyzes the Court's recent use of the implied theories …

Notes On Constitutionalism For A 21st-Century Russian President, Dana Dallas Atchison

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

Are short-term political interests compromising prospects for a constitutional society in Russia? In Part I, this paper first considers the elements that contribute to constitutionalism. These include a constitution, democracy, public participation, the rule of law, an open society, a history of constitutionalism, public support for a constitutional order, importance of the individual, and an independent judiciary. Part II analyzes these themes against provisions in Russia's new Constitution and concludes that many articles have been compromised by Boris Yeltsin's personal political interests.

Part III appraises practical considerations that impact constitutional elements such as the public's expectations and concerns. Part III …

Separation Of Powers In State Constitutional Law - Introduction, Carl T. Bogus

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The "Dirty Little Secret": Why Class Actions Have Emerged As The Only Viable Option For Women Inmates Attempting To Satisfy The Subjective Prong Of The Eighth Amendment In Suits For Custodial Sexual Abuse, Amy Laderberg

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

We The Unconventional American People, James E. Fleming

Faculty Scholarship

In his 1991 volume, We the People: Foundations, Bruce Ackerman urged us as Americans to declare our independence from European models of government and to “look inward” to rediscover our distinctive constitutional scheme--dualist democracy.1 In his new volume, We the People: Transformations, he exhorts us as dualist democrats to break up the monopoly that Article V of the Constitution has held on our vision of constitutional amendment. He urges us to move “beyond Article V” and to embrace a pluralist understanding of the sources of higher lawmaking (pp 15-17). Only by doing so, he argues, will we be able …

Trends. Clinton/Lewinsky, Star Chambers, The Starr Report: E Pluribus Unum Or E Uno Plures?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the effect of lying on the presidency and impeachment.

Lie Detection: The Supreme Court's Polygraph Decision, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In United States v. Scheffer, decided this past Term, the Supreme Court considered for the first time the admissibility of polygraph evidence. The Court held that exclusion of such evidence on behalf of a criminal defendant was supported by valid justifications and offended no constitutional right to present a defense.

The Supreme Court As An Enforcement Agency, Harold J. Krent

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Remedies, Section 1983 And The Common Law, Michael L. Wells

Scholarly Works

Constitutional tort law marries the substantive rights granted by the Constitution to the remedial mechanism of tort law. The sweeping language of 42 U.S.C. 1983 provides that "[e]very person who, under color of any [state law] subjects, or causes to be subjected, any [person] to the deprivation of any [constitutional rights] shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress." Constitutional tort suits raise, in a new context, many tort-like remedial questions relating to causation, immunity, and damages--and therein lies a problem. The usual source of answers to …

Imperfect Death Penalty Not Acceptable, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

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

The Scope Of Eleventh Amendment Immunity From Suits Arising Under Patent Law After Seminole Tribe V. Florida , Kristen Healey

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

God And Man In The Yale Dormitories, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ex Post Facto Clause And The Jurisprudence Of Punishment, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Tribute To Professor Richard B. Tyler, William B. Fisch

Faculty Publications

Tribute to Professor Richard B. Tyler

Seeley V. State: The Need For Definitional Balancing In Washington Substantive Due Process Law, Kristiana L. Farris

Washington Law Review

Seeley v. State, concerning the medical use of marijuana, underscored yet again the fundamental tensions and flaws in federal substantive due process analysis. The U.S. Supreme Court has increasingly restricted the definition of fundamental rights, leaving many important interests exposed to the highly deferential rational relationship standard for state regulation. Under the bifurcated federal substantive due process test, the initial classification of an individual interest as fundamental or non-fundamental is highly outcome determinative, leading to contorted definitions of individual rights before the test for the validity of a regulation is even applied. Washington has generally followed federal constitutional law …

L'Indépendance Judiciaire Et La Cour Suprême: Reconstruction Historique Douteuse Et Théorie Constitutionnelle De Complaisance, Jean Leclair, Yves-Marie Morissette

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the Reference re: Remuneration of Judges in the Provincial Court of Prince Edward Island has given judicial independence a surprising interpretation. A majority of the Court stated that this principle requires legislative bodies to establish independent procedures for setting judicial salaries. The Court maintained that the basis of judicial independence is to be found in the preamble of the Constitution Act, 1867, rather than the express provisions of the constitutional text. The authors argue in Part I of this article that the Court transformed fundamentally and without reason traditional conceptions …

Equal Educational Opportunity And Constitutional Theory: Preliminary Thoughts On The Role Of School Choice And The Autonomy Principle, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Inadequate schools impede America's long-standing quest for greater equal educational opportunity. The equal educational opportunity doctrine, traditionally moored in terms of race, has expanded to include notions of educational adequacy. Educational adequacy is frequently construed in terms of educational spending and framed in terms largely incident to constitutional litigation.

This paper explores the potential intersections of the school choice and school finance movements, particularly as they relate to litigation and policy. The paper argues that school choice policies constitute a viable remedy for successful school finance litigation and form a remedy that simultaneously advances individual autonomy, one critical constitutional principle.

Endangered Species Act: Standing To Sue. Bennett V. Spear, 117 S. Ct. 1154 (1997)., R. Margaret Dobson

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remedies For The Misappropriation Of Intellectual Property By State And Municipal Governments Before And After Seminole Tribe: The Eleventh Amendment And Immunity Doctrines, Paul J. Heald, Michael L. Wells

Scholarly Works

Part I of this Article addresses relief available to intellectual property owners under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Before Congress's express abrogation of state sovereign immunity in 1992, federal, state, and local governments were nonetheless potentially liable for misappropriations of intellectual property that constituted takings without just compensation. This examination of the Supreme Court's Fifth Amendment jurisprudence is also key to answering the critical question of whether federal patent, copyright, and trademark laws establish rights in “property” for the purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment, for only under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment may Congress abrogate a state's …

The Constitutionalism Of Mary Ann Glendon, Donald P. Kommers

Journal Articles

Mary Ann Glendon is an accomplished legal scholar whose books and essays in the field of marriage and family law have received universal acclaim among her peers in the legal academy. More recently, and particularly in the last decade, she has emerged as a notable public intellectual. In this capacity, she has focused her careful reflections on topics such as abortion, religious liberty, social welfare legislation, the changing nature of the legal profession, and the condition of political discourse in America. One of the things that makes her recent work, as well as her earlier publications on family law, so …

Constitution-Making, Identity Building, And Peaceful Transition To Democracy: Theoretical Reflections Inspired By The Spanish Example, Michel Rosenfeld

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Peaceful Transitions To Constitutional Democracy: Transcript Of The Proceedings

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

On The Difference In Importance Between Supreme Court Doctrine And Actual Consequences: A Review Of The Supreme Court's 1996-1997 Term, Jesse H. Choper

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Autopoiesis And The "Relative Autonomy" Of Law, Hugh Baxter

Cardozo Law Review

Recent accounts of the relation between law and other social spheres have emphasized law's "relative autonomy." The intuition behind the "relative autonomy" formula is that law is neither wholly independent of, nor entirely reducible to, political, economic and other social processes. Sensible as this intuition is, however, the idea of "relative autonomy" by itself remains purely negative. It excludes two unpalatable extremes-pure formalism and pure instrumentalism-but it does not by itself characterize, in positive theoretical terms, the relation between law and other social discourses or practices.

This Article examines an attempt in recent German social thought to specify theoretically the …

Constitutional Law, Robin Jean Davis, Louis J. Palmer Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutionalizing Kwik-E-Mart, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

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

The Continuing Validity Of Disparate Impact Analysis For Federal-Sector Age Discrimination Claims , Keith R. Fentonmiller

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sex-Based Discrimination In U.S. Immigration Law: The High Court's Lost Opportunity To Bridge The Gap Between What We Say And What We Do , Debra L. Satinoff

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chemical Castration: Constitutional Issues Of Due Process, Equal Protection, And Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Linda Beckman

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.