Constitutional Law Commons^™

The Zombie First Amendment, Julie E. Cohen

William & Mary Law Review

Scholarly and popular critiques of contemporary free speech jurisprudence have noted an attitude of unquestioning deference to the political power of money. Rather than sheltering the ability to speak truth to power, they have lamented, the contemporary First Amendment shelters power’s ability to make and propagate its own truth. This Article relates developments in recent First Amendment jurisprudence to a larger struggle now underway to shape the distribution of information power in the era of informational capitalism. In particular, it argues that cases about political speech—cases that lie at the First Amendment’s traditional core—tell only a small part of the …

First Amendment Expansionism, Leslie Kendrick

William & Mary Law Review

In recent years, many litigants have found the First Amendment to be a useful tool. One could mention pornography actors, tattoo artists, death row inmates, and corporate interests from small photography shops to meat trade associations to cigarette manufacturers to pharmaceutical companies. All have raised First Amendment claims in the last few years, and nearly all of them have met with some level of success.

These claims are examples of what has been called First Amendment opportunism, where litigants raise novel free speech claims that may involve the repackaging of other types of legal arguments. To the extent that many …

Reconciling Privacy And Speech In The Era Of Big Data: A Comparative Legal Analysis, Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr.

William & Mary Law Review

In both the United States and the nations of Western Europe, significant constitutional commitments safeguard both expressive freedom (including freedom of speech and of the press) and also a generalized constitutional right of privacy. With some regularity, however, these rights will come into conflict, as the protection of one right can be achieved only at the cost of abridging or denying the other. When a government official or public figure objects to the publication of an embarrassing photograph, perhaps taken by an invasive paparazzo, it is simply not possible to fully vindicate both a newspaper’s interest in publishing the photograph …

The Right Of Publicity And The First Amendment In The Modern Age Of Commercial Speech, Martin H. Redish, Kelsey B. Shust

William & Mary Law Review

The so-called right of publicity gives individuals a legally protected interest against commercially motivated communicators’ use of their names or likenesses for purposes of commercial gain. Although the right is sometimes viewed as a subcategory of the right of privacy, it may be exercised by the best known celebrities, as well as by the most private individual. It is therefore more properly characterized as a property interest in one’s name and likeness than a protection of one’s privacy.

In order to satisfy the concerns of the First Amendment right of free expression, however, the statutory and common law development of …

Why Data Privacy Law Is (Mostly) Constitutional, Neil M. Richards

William & Mary Law Review

Laws regulating the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data are (mostly) constitutional, and critics who suggest otherwise are wrong. Since the New Deal, American law has rested on the wise judgment that, by and large, commercial regulation should be made on the basis of economic and social policy, rather than blunt constitutional rules. This has become one of the basic principles of American constitutional law. Although some observers have suggested that the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. changes this state of affairs, such readings are incorrect. Sorrell involved a challenge to a …

The Politics And Incentives Of First Amendment Coverage, Frederick Schauer

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

March 14, 2015: Would Prosperity Matter?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Would Prosperity Matter?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Privacies Of Life: Automatic License Plate Recognition Is Unconstitutional Under The Mosaic Theory Of Fourth Amendment Privacy Law, Jessica Gutierrez-Alm

Hamline Law Review

Abstract

Dying In Original Sin Vis-À-Vis Living In Disgrace—In Defense Of The Right To Socio-Eugenic Abortion As Personal Liberty, Jayadevan V. R. Dr.

Hamline Law Review

Abstract

March 11, 2015: Well, Some Dare Call It Treason, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Well, Some Dare Call it Treason“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Heritage Guide To The Constitution, Second Edition: What Has Changed Over The Past Decade, And What Lies Ahead?, David Forte, Edwin Meese Iii, Matthew Spalding

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, first released in 2005, brought together more than 100 of the nation’s best legal experts to provide line-by-line examination of each clause of the Constitution and its contemporary meaning—the first such comprehensive commentary to appear in many decades. The Heritage Guide to the Constitution: Fully Revised Second Edition takes into account a decade of Supreme Court decisions and legal scholarship on such issues as gun rights, religious freedom, campaign finance, civil rights, and health care reform. The Founders’ guiding principles remain unchanged, yet a number of Supreme Court decisions over the past decade …

March 7, 2015: Watching The Left Behind Movie, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Watching the Left Behind Movie“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Jurisdiction - The Supreme Court Upholds The Constitutionality Of The Jurisdictional Grant Of The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Over A Suit Between An Alien And A Foreign Sovereign In United States District Court, Stephen E. Farish

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Multistate Export Trade Promotion Under The Export Trading Company Act Of 1982, Joseph M. Gannam

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Violently Possessed: Johnson As The Vehicle For Limiting Sentencing Enhancement Under The Armed Career Criminals Act, Jonathan Robe

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

This commentary previews an upcoming Supreme Court case, Johnson v. United States in which the Court will decide whether conviction for mere possession of a short-barreled shotgun qualifies as a "violent felony" that warrants sentence-enhancement under the Armed Career Criminals Act. The Author argues that he plain text of the statute and the Court's prior cases on the issue suggest tat convictions for "mere possession" do not satisfy the definition of "violent felony" and that the Court should overturn the Eighth Circuit's ruling upholding Johnson's sentence enhancement.

Is That A Threat?: Elonis V. United States And The Standard Of Intent For True Threat Convictions, Peter S. Larson

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

This commentary analyzes the Supreme Court case Elonis v. United States where the Court will determine the applicable criminal-intent standard required to convict a defendant for threatening speech. After a series of violent Facebook posts against coworkers and his estranged wife, Petitioner Elonis was convicted for making so-called "true threats" of violence--speech not granted First-Amendment protection. Elonis argues that the prosecution should have been required to prove that he actually had the intent to threaten people when he wrote the posts, not simply that a reasonable person would find the posts threatening. The Author argues that the Court should rule …

Cases, Controversies, And Diversity, F. Andrew Hessick

Northwestern University Law Review

Article III’s diversity jurisdiction provisions extend the federal judicial power to state law controversies between different states or nations and their respective citizens. When exercising diversity jurisdiction, the federal judiciary does not function in its usual role of protecting federal interests or ensuring the uniformity of federal law. Instead, federal courts operate as alternative state courts for resolving disputes between diverse parties. But federal courts often cannot act as alternative state courts because of Article III justiciability doctrines such as standing, ripeness, and mootness. These doctrines define when a federal court may act. But they do not apply to state …

(Un)Equal Protection: Why Gender Equality Depends On Discrimination, Keith Cunningham-Parmeter

Northwestern University Law Review

Most accounts of the Supreme Court’s equal protection jurisprudence describe the Court’s firm opposition to sex discrimination. But while the Court famously invalidated several sex-based laws at the end of the twentieth century, it also issued many other, less-celebrated decisions that sanctioned sex-specific classifications in some circumstances. Examining these long-ignored cases that approved of sex discrimination, this Article explains how the Court’s rulings in this area have often rejected the principle of formal equality in favor of broader antisubordination concerns. Outlining a new model of equal protection that authorizes certain forms of sex discrimination, (Un)Equal Protection advocates for one particular …

March 4, 2015: The Foreign Leader Speaks, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Foreign Leader Speaks“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Association For Civil Rights In Israel V. Airports Authority, Asher Grunis, Miriam Naor, Elyakim Rubinstein

Translated Opinions

[This abstract is not part of the Court's opinion and is provided for the reader's convenience. It has been translated from a Hebrew version prepared by Nevo Press Ltd. and is used with its kind permission.]

Facts: The petition concerned the security procedures for screening Israeli citizens at Israeli airports. The Petitioner’s primary claim was that Israel’s Arab citizens are generally subjected to stricter security checks than Israel’s Jewish citizens. The Petitioner argued that employing ethnicity as a criterion for the rigorousness of airport security screening of Israeli citizens is fundamentally unacceptable. The petition was submitted in 2007, but the …

March 1, 2015: Is There Something Wrong?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ Is There Something Wrong?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

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

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Future Of The Foreign Commerce Clause, Scott Sullivan

Fordham Law Review

    The Foreign Commerce Clause has been lost, subsumed by its interstate cousin, and overshadowed in foreign relations by the treaty power. Consistent with its original purpose and the implied, but unrefined view asserted by the judiciary, this Article articulates a broader and deeper Foreign Commerce power than is popularly understood. It reframes doctrinal considerations for a reinvigorated Foreign Commerce Clause—both as an independent power and in alliance with other coordinate foreign affairs powers—and demonstrates that increasing global complexity and interdependence makes broad and deep federal authority under this power crucial to effective and efficient action in matters of national concern.

A Survey Of The History Of The Death Penalty In The United States, Sheherezade C. Malik, D. Paul Holdsworth

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Death Penalty: Should The Judge Or The Jury Decide Who Dies?, Valerie P. Hans, John H. Blume, Theodore Eisenberg, Amelia Courtney Hritz, Sheri L. Johnson, Caisa Elizabeth Royer, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article addresses the effect of judge versus jury decision making through analysis of a database of all capital sentencing phase hearing trials in the State of Delaware from 1977– 2007. Over the three decades of the study, Delaware shifted responsibility for death penalty sentencing from the jury to the judge. Currently, Delaware is one of the handful of states that gives the judge the final decision-making authority in capital trials. Controlling for a number of legally relevant and other predictor variables, we find that the shift to judge sentencing significantly increased the number of death sentences. Statutory aggravating factors, …

A Shot In The Dark: Why Virginia Should Adopt The Firing Squad As Its Primary Method Of Execution, P. Thomas Distanislao

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lethal Injections: States Medicalize Execution, Joel B. Zivot

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Has The "Machinery Of Death" Become A Clunker?, Stephen F. Smith

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Future Of The Foreign Commerce Clause, Scott Sullivan

Journal Articles

The Foreign Commerce Clause has been lost, subsumed by its interstate cousin, and overshadowed in foreign relations by the treaty power. Consistent with its original purpose and the implied, but unrefined view asserted by the judiciary, this Article articulates a broader and deeper Foreign Commerce power than is popularly understood. It reframes doctrinal considerations for a reinvigorated Foreign Commerce Clause--both as an independent power and in alliance with other coordinate foreign affairs powers--and demonstrates that increasing global complexity and interdependence makes broad and deep federal authority under this power crucial to effective and efficient action in matters of national concern.

A Battle Of The Amendments: Why Ending Discrimination In The Courtroom May Inhibit A Criminal Defendant’S Right To An Impartial Jury, Gina M. Chiappetta

Fordham Law Review

    Since the U.S. Supreme Court began limiting the exercise of peremptory challenges to safeguard potential jurors from discrimination, it has faced a nearly impossible task. The Court has attempted to safeguard a juror’s equal protection rights without eradicating the peremptory challenge’s ability to preserve a criminal defendant’s right to an impartial jury. Under the current legal framework, it is not certain whether either constitutional right is adequately protected. This Note examines the history of the Supreme Court’s limitation on peremptory challenges. It then discusses the current federal circuit split over whether peremptory challenges should be further limited. Finally, this Note …