Constitutional Law Commons^™

The Paradox Of Auxiliary Rights: The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination And The Right To Keep And Bear Arms, Michael S. Green

Faculty Publications

According to Locke's theory of the social contract, which was widely accepted by the Founders, political authority is limited by those natural moral rights that individuals reserve against the government. In this Article, I argue that Locke's theory generates paradoxical conclusions concerning the government's authority over civil disobedients, that is, people who resist the government because they believe it is violating reserved moral rights. If the government lacks the authority to compel the civil disobedient to abide by its laws, the result is anarchism: The limits on governmental authority are whatever each individual says they are. If the government has …

Incentives To Create Under A "Lifetime-Plus-Years" Copyright Duration: Lessons From A Behavioral Economic Analysis For Eldred V. Ashcroft, Avishalom Tor, Dotan Oliar

Journal Articles

In this Article, we highlight for the first time some of the significant but hitherto unrecognized behavioral effects of copyright law on individuals' incentives to create and then examine the implications of our findings for the constitutional analysis of Eldred v. Ashcroft. We show that behavioral biases - namely, individuals' optimistic bias regarding their future longevity and their sub-additive judgments in circumstances resembling the extant rule of copyright duration - explain the otherwise puzzling lifetime-plus-years basis for copyright protection given to individual authors, and reveal how this regime provides superior incentives to create. Thus, insofar as the provision of increased …

An Introduction To The Federal Constitutional Court, Donald P. Kommers

Journal Articles

This essay introduces the Federal Constitutional Court, briefly surveying the Court’s legal heritage, the history of its founding, its jurisdiction, and its structure.

The Rehnquist Court And Criminal Procedure, Stephen F. Smith

Journal Articles

Much of recent discussions of conservative judicial activism has concerned the revival of federalism-based limits on Congress during the Rehnquist Court. The allure of federalism as a topic for discussion is understandable, yet I argue that constitutional criminal procedure provides a better context within which to test the Rehnquist Court's commitment to judicial restraint. In this Essay, I examine the topic at hand against the background of the many important developments that have taken place in criminal procedure on Rehnquist's watch. The results of this examination are surprising because they suggest that activism is not necessarily the antithesis of restraint. …

The New Deal ‘Constitutional Revolution’ As An Historical Problem, Edward A. Purcell Jr.

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Contested Right To Vote, Richard Briffault

Michigan Law Review

For those who believe the United States is a representative democracy with a government elected by the people, the events of late 2000 must have been more than a little disconcerting. In the election for our most important public office - our only truly national office - the candidate who received the most popular votes was declared the loser while his second place opponent, who had received some 540,000 fewer votes, was the winner. This result turned on the outcome in Florida, where approximately 150,000 ballots cast were found not to contain valid votes. Further, due to flaws in ballot …

No. 1 - Legal Systems In Transition, Ivana Janu, Josef Bejcek, Gabriel M. Wilner

Occasional Papers Series

A January 24-28, 2000 visit by Justice Ivana Janu, Dean Josef Bejcek, and some of the Czech colleagues to the Dean Rusk Center and the University of Georgia provided an occasion for the exchange of ideas concerning transition in the legal structure and content in the former Socialist states of central and eastern Europe. Justice Janu and Dean Bejcek prepared papers and agreed to their publication. The availability of these two important papers, one on constitutional courts and the other on transitions in commercial law, rendered to the Rusk Center the necessary impetus for the creation of the Occasional Papers …

What's Wrong With Our Talk About Race? On History, Particularity, And Affirmative Action, James Boyd White

Michigan Law Review

One of the striking and original achievements of the Michigan Law Review in its first century was the publication in 1989 of a Symposium entitled Legal Storytelling. Organized by the remarkable editor-in-chief, Kevin Kennedy - who tragically died not long after his graduation - the Symposium not only brought an important topic to the forefront of legal thinking, it did so in an extraordinarily interesting way. For this was not a mere collection of papers; the authors met in small editorial groups to discuss their work in detail, and as a result the whole project has a remarkable coherence and …

The Distinctive Place Of Religious Entities In Our Constitutional Order, Ira C. Lupu, Robert Tuttle

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

The Third Circuit's Approach To The Private Enforcement Of Administrative Agency Regulations Under Section 1983, Lisa M. Lamb

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Unclearly Establishing Qualified Immunity: What Sources Of Authority May Be Used To Determine Whether The Law Is Clearly Established In The Third Circuit, Jonathan M. Stemerman

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Looking Back On Planned Parenthood V. Casey, Christina B. Whitman

Articles

Scholarship that tells us what is really at stake in the lives of people affected makes the law honest and responsive. Whether or not it directly shapes doctrine, this type of scholarship can capture imagination and influence judgment. The Michigan Law Review has published some of the best of this work: Yale Kamisar's articles on coerced confessions, Terry Sandalow's essay on affirmative action, Joe Sax and Phillip Hiestand's description of the emotional impact of living in a slum, Martha Chamallas and Linda Kerber's demonstration of how injuries that uniquely befall women have been dismissed as merely emotional wrongs, and, most …

Federal Courts, Overbreadth, And Vagueness: Guiding Principles For Constitution Challenges To Uninterpreted State Statutes, Mark L. Rienzi, Stuart Buck

Scholarly Articles

When a federal court is asked to declare an uninterpreted state law to be unconstitutionally overbroad or vague, it faces several tensions. On one side, the overbreadth and vagueness doctrines urge the court to strike down the statute on its face. On the other side, the related doctrines of constitutional avoidance, narrowing interpretations, abstention and certification all urge the court to find some way to save the statute at least as to some applications. But because of the cardinal principle that federal courts are not the final authority on the interpretation of state law, many federal courts err on the …

Constitutional Values And The Ethics Of Health Care: A Comparison Of The United States And Germany, William J. Wagner

Scholarly Articles

In the first section, this essay will consider questions the new era in health care poses for a health-care ethics of ends. The second section will address the question this emerging era raises for a health-care ethics of duty. Under the rubric of an ethics of ends, the essay examines, more particularly, the ends of health and efficiency. Under that of duty, it addresses the duties of respect for the dignity of the human person; respect for the covenant of treatment; and respect for justice in distribution. In each case, it seeks to identify the basis for an adequate response …

The Science, Law, And Politics Of Fetal Pain Legislation, Kevin C. Walsh

Scholarly Articles

Most people prefer not to inflict gratuitous pain on other sentient beings, especially other humans. What, then, should be the legal system's reaction to the mounting evidence that in late-term abortions doctors are inflicting just such pain on fetuses who have the anatomical, physiological, and neurological capacity to experience it? The pain being inflicted is gratuitous because it can be easily avoided with no significant increases in cost or health risk by the administration of tar geted fetal pain relief. If informed that an abortion is likely to cause pain to the fetus and given a choice between a procedure …

Politicization And Judicialization Of The U.S. Chief Executive’S Political And Criminal Responsibility: A Threat To Constitutional Integrity Or A Natural Result Of The Constitution’S Flexibility?, Rett R. Ludwikowski

Scholarly Articles

This article attempts to analyze to what extent the scope of executive privilege, constitutionally committed to the executive branch, is determined by judicial process or by purely political factors. It opens with a brief report on the process of formation of the Presidential model of government and the system of checks and balances in the United States. Focusing on the checks imposed on the Executive, this article distinguishes those restraints that are clearly constitutionalized, or stemming from judicial determination of their constitutionality, and those which are the result of judicial interpretation of the beneficial aspects of public policy or political …

America’S Death Penalty: Just Another Form Of Violence, John Bessler

All Faculty Scholarship

The author in this piece reflects on the death penalty in the U.S. in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The writer goes on to argue that capital punishment is, in and of itself, a form of violence. Also discussed in the article are the gradual removal of executions from public view, issues of deterrence and violent crime, and the author's preference for life-without-possibility-of-parole sentences.

Congress's Power To Promote The Progress Of Science: Eldred V. Ashcroft, Lawrence B. Solum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay investigates the issues raised by Eldred v. Ashcroft, in which the Supreme Court may decide whether the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) exceeds Congress's authority under that clause. The essay frames the issues in Eldred v. Ashcroft by discussing the history of copyright legislation in general and the CTEA in particular and then summarizing the procedural history of Eldred v. Ashcroft. The essay then undertakes a detailed investigation of the text of the Intellectual Property Clause, with a special emphasis on the interpretation of the clause by the first Congress and early judicial decisions. Three elements …

Proposed Amendments To Fed. R. Crim. P. 26: An Exchange: Remote Testimony, Richard D. Friedman

Articles

Recently, the Supreme Court declined to pass on to Congress a proposed change to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 26 submitted to it by the Judicial Conference. In this Article, Professor Friedman addresses this proposal, which would allow for more extensive use of remote, video-based testimony at criminal trials. He agrees with the majority of the Court that the proposal raised serious problems under the Confrontation Clause. He also argues that a revised proposal, in addition to better protecting the confrontation rights of defendants, should include more definite quality standards, abandon its reliance on the definition of unavailability found in …

Pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia Di Aceh Tahun 1989-1998 Menurut Syariah Dan Perlembagaan Indonesia, H. Munawar A. Djalil

Student Works (2000-2009)

This research attempts to find out human rights violations in Acheh during the period of 1989-1998 according to lslamic Laws and Indonesian Constitution. Chapter 1 highlights backgrounds of this research whereas chapter 2 discusses modem and Islamic human rights theories. AII these theories look at similarity, freedom and justice. The difference is only based on its principle Islamic theory is based on AI-Qur'an and Sunnah whereas modern theory is based on humanism. Furthermore, Chapter three talks about histories of Aceh and implementation of Military Operation Zone whereas Acehneses considered as rebels and Islamic fundamentalists by Indonesian Government. This situation has …

Producing Trousered Apes In Dwyer's Totalitarian State: A Review Of "Vouchers Within Reason", Michael A. Scaperlanda

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Design: Proposals Versus Processes, Donald L. Horowitz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Random Vs. Suspicion-Based Drug Testing In The Public Schools -- A Surprising Civil Liberties Dilemma, Martin H. Belsky

Akron Law Faculty Publications

The Tecumseh School District had a policy that all students who wished to participate in extracurricular activities that involved some sort of competition had to agree to drug testing before the competition and then randomly thereafter. ... Those selected for accusatory drug testing might be perceived to be wearing a "badge of shame" and be subject to the arbitrary whim of an administrator. ... Vernonia involved a rule requiring drug testing as a condition for participation in extracurricular competitive sports. ... In Earls, the Tecumseh School District adopted a "Student Activities Drug Testing Policy" that required all students who wished …

Ambiguity And Income Taxation, Terrence R. Chorvat

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Restoring Politics To The Commerce Clause: The Case For Abandoning The Dormant Commerce Clause Prohibition Of Discriminatory Taxation, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

No abstract provided.

Separation And Interpretation, Philip A. Hamburger

Faculty Scholarship

Should the establishment clause be interpreted in terms of "separation between church and state"? If not, how should the establishment clause be interpreted?

At stake, first, is the character of religious freedom in the United States. In particular, will lingering separationist notions continue to affect the interpretation of the First Amendment? Notwithstanding the claims made on behalf of separation, there is reason to fear that it is not the religious freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment. Indeed, it will be seen that the interpretation of the First Amendment in terms of "separation of church and state" has tangibly diminished this …

A Closer Look At Good News V. Milford: What Are The Implications? (Stay Tuned) , John E. Dunsford

Seattle University Law Review

This article will examine: (1) whether Lamb's Chapel should control; (2) whether there is a relevant distinction between religious viewpoint and subject matter; (3) whether a forum open to much of the public may be limited to others; (4) whether the presence of prayer and worship should affect the right of a private organization to access public property; and (5) whether such use of public property violates the Establishment Clause.

Reason To Ratify: The Influence Of John Locke's Religious Beliefs On The Creation And Adoption Of The United States Constitution, David L. Wardle

Seattle University Law Review

The pervasive influence of Lockean religious convictions motivated the framers of the Constitution to establish a new form of government, provided the theoretical basis for the document itself, and inspired its popular ratification. Part II will lay the groundwork for this thesis by outlining Locke's life and sources of his religious beliefs. Part III will undertake a more substantive examination of Locke's opinions and the writings that memorialized them. Establishing how Lockean ideas of natural law, social contract, and reason are related to the inspiration, drafting, and acceptance of the Constitution takes place in Part IV, before the article's conclusion …

Conceptualizing Constitutional Litigation As Anti-Government Expression: A Speech-Centered Theory Of Court Access, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

This Article proposes a speech-based right of court access. First, it finds the traditional due process approach to be analytically incoherent and of limited practical value. Second, it contends that history, constitutional structure, and theory all support conceiving of the right of access as the modern analogue to the right to petition government for redress. Third, the Article explores the ways in which the civil rights plaintiff's lawsuit tracks the behavior of the traditional dissident. Fourth, by way of a case study, the essay argues that recent restrictions - notably, a congressional limitation on the amount of fees counsel for …

Erickson V. Bartell Drug Co. 141 F. Supp. 2d 1266 (W.D. Wash 2001), Jennifer M. Saubermann

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.