Constitutional Law Commons^™

Quasi-Constitutional Amendments, Richard Albert

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Restroom Use, Civil Rights, And Free Speech "Opportunism", Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

Commentators have expressed concerns that litigants are invoking the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause strategically, in order to compensate for the weakness or futility of other constitutional claims. The phenomenon has been given a label- "opportunism "-and scholars have examined some of its causes and consequences. This Article takes a closer and somewhat skeptical look at the concept offree speech "opportunism." It imagines that the Free Speech Clause will be invoked in challenges to laws or policies that restrict public restroom use based on a person's gender. Would such challenges be "opportunistic, " as the term has been defined? What …

Prohibiting Child- Parent Visitation After Parental Rights Are Terminated By Trial In New York: A Denial Of Parental Due Process, Rachel Turetsky

Cardozo Law Review

The note argues that New York's current statutory framework denying posttermination contact for parents after a trial termination is constitutionally and policy-deficient. It advocates for a legislative amendment to permit courts to order posttermination contact or communication when it serves the best interests of the child, aligning with due process rights and the majority of U.S. jurisdictions.

Alternatives To Immigration Detention, Fatma E. Marouf

Cardozo Law Review

The United States places over 440,000 people each year in immigration detention, far more than any other country in the world. This Article argues that there are compelling humanitarian and financial reasons to utilize more alternatives to detention. It examines the strengths and limitations of existing alternatives, including the need to develop more community-based case management programs and to rely less on electronic monitoring. The Article then sets forth several legal arguments under the Constitution, Rehabilitation Act, and international human rights law for requiring greater consideration of alternatives to detention.

July 31, 2017: On Liberal Arrogance, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “On Liberal Arrogance“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Sound Principles, Undesirable Outcomes: Justice Scalia's Paradoxical Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence, Mirko Bagaric, Sandeep Gopalan

Akron Law Review

Justice Scalia is renowned for his conservative stance on the Eighth Amendment and prisoners’ rights. Justice Scalia held that the Eighth Amendment incorporates no proportionality requirement of any nature regarding the type and duration of punishment which the state can inflict on criminal offenders. Justice Scalia has also been labelled as “one of the Justices least likely to support a prisoner’s legal claim” and as adopting, because of his originalist orientation, “a restrictive view of the existence of prisoners’ rights.” A closer examination of the seminal judgments in these areas and the jurisprudential nature of the principle of proportionality and …

Justice Scalia As Neither Friend Nor Foe To Criminal Defendants, Tung Yin

Akron Law Review

At first glance, Justice Scalia may appear to have been something of a “friend” to criminal defendants, as he authored a number of opinions ruling against law enforcement. However, his opinions reflect his fidelity to his constitutional vision of originalism rather than an intent to favor criminal defendants. Nevertheless, these cases are often offered as legitimate examples of how he did not have a purely results-oriented approach to deciding criminal procedure issues. Yet, a closer examination of Justice Scalia’s “defendant-favorable” opinions suggests that the results often have an air of unreality to them. In practice, there is no way for …

Originalism And The Criminal Law: Vindicating Justice Scalia's Jurisprudence - And The Constitution, Adam Lamparello, Charles E. Maclean

Akron Law Review

Justice Scalia was not perfect—no one is—but he was not a dishonest jurist. As one commentator explains, “[i]f Scalia was a champion of those rights [for criminal defendants, arrestees], he was an accidental champion, a jurist with a deeper objective—namely, fidelity to what he dubbed the ‘original meaning’ reflected in the text of the Constitution—that happened to intersect with the interests of the accused at some points in the constellation of criminal law and procedure.” Indeed, Justice Scalia is more easily remembered not as a champion of the little guy, the voiceless, and the downtrodden, but rather, as Texas Gov. …

The Death Penalty And Justice Scalia's Lines, J. Richard Broughton

Akron Law Review

In Justice Scalia’s lone dissenting opinion in Morrison v. Olson, he lamented that, after the Court had upheld a law that he believed violated the separation of powers, “there are now no lines.” Lines were of critical importance to Justice Scalia – in law and in life – and informed much of his work on criminal law issues (Morrison, after all, was a case about the nature of federal prosecutorial authority). In the area of capital punishment, in particular, Justice Scalia saw clear lines that the Court should not cross. He believed that the Constitution contemplates the …

Justice Scalia's Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence: An Unabashed Foe Of Criminal Defendants, Michael Vitiello

Akron Law Review

Justice Scalia’s death has already produced a host of commentary on his career. Depending on the issue, Justice Scalia’s legacy is quite complicated. Justice Scalia’s commitment to originalism explains at least some of his pro-defendant positions. Some of his supporters point to such examples to support a claim that Justice Scalia was principled in his application of his jurisprudential philosophy. However, in one area, Justice Scalia was an unabashed foe of criminal defendants: his Eighth Amendment jurisprudential dealing with terms of imprisonment. There, based on his reading of the historical record, he argued that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel …

July 25, 2017: A Scandal At The Boy Scout Jamboree, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “A Scandal at the Boy Scout Jamboree“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Religion And Gay Rights Need Not Be At Loggerheads, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

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

July 23, 2017: Sunday Op-Ed In The Post-Gazette, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Sunday op-ed in the Post-Gazette“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

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 …

July 20, 2017: Are Trump Supporters Moral Heroes On Healthcare?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Are Trump Supporters Moral Heroes on Healthcare?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

A Constitutional And Efficacious Analysis Of Affirmative Action Policies, Jeff Longust

Pepperdine Policy Review

After several Supreme Court cases, university admissions processes, and state/federal policies, affirmative action programs are under several layers of scrutiny. This paper explores how court precedent and research studies have both shaped policies and raised substantive questions about whether or not these programs are effective and equitable.

The Origins And Boundaries Of Executive Privilege, John M. Greabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "When the president or persons working with the president are under investigation . . . the doctrine of executive privilege -which entitles the president to keep confidential certain communications to and from his advisers -inevitably becomes relevant."

July 15, 2017: More Russia, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “More Russia“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Unbefriended And Unrepresented: Better Medical Decision Making For Incapacitated Patients Without Healthcare Surrogates, Thaddeus Mason Pope

Georgia State University Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to help improve the quality of healthcare decision making for the unbefriended. I hope that this comprehensive and systematic explanation of both the problem and the available solutions will empower both public and clinical policymakers to develop more informed and more circumspect policies and procedures

2016-2017 Georgia State University Law Review Symposium: Exploring The Right To Die In The U.S., Margaret Pabst Battin

Georgia State University Law Review

This transcript is a reproduction of the Keynote Presentation at the 2016–2017 Georgia State University Law Review Symposium on November 11, 2016. Margaret Battin, is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah.

Distinctive Factors Affecting The Legal Context Of End-Of-Life Medical Care For Older Persons, Marshall B. Kapp

Georgia State University Law Review

Current legal regulation of medical care for individuals approaching the end of life in the United States is predicated essentially on a factual model emanating from a series of high-profile judicial opinions concerning the rights of adults who become either permanently unconscious or are clearly going to die soon with or without aggressive attempts of curative therapy.

The need for a flexible, adaptable approach to medically treating people approaching the end of their lives, and a similar openness to possible modification of the legal framework within which treatment choices are made and implemented, are particularly important when older individuals are …

Trending @ Rwu Law: Dean Yelnosky's Post: Spotlight On Faculty Teaching And Scholarship At Rwu Law, Michael Yelnosky

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

‘Trinity’ Case Marks Death Of Originalism, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

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

July 7, 2017: Philadelphia Inquirer Op-Ed, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Philadelphia Inquirer Op-ed“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

July 7, 2017: My Response To Randy Barnett, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “My Response to Randy Barnett“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Federal Habeas Review Of State Court Convictions: Incoherent Law But An Essential Right, Lynn Adelman

Maine Law Review

I thank the editors of the Maine Law Review for the opportunity to participate in a discussion about the present state of post-conviction review of criminal convictions. This discussion is important and timely both because the quality of the procedures by which state prisoners can obtain post-conviction review varies greatly from state to state and because state prisoners who seek federal court review of their constitutional claims by petitioning for a writ of habeas corpus face many obstacles. As a federal district judge, my experience is primarily with the later problem. Thus, in this article, I will offer a few …

A Tale Of Tulips: A Counterpoint To Courts Codifying Collectibles, Hunter S. Higgins

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

The goal of this Note is to educate the courts and public of the patent inconsistencies and latent implications of judicial interference in the art and collectibles market, as prosecutors, judges, and the public risk unraveling the delicate fabric of its legal and economic framework. Part II of the Note will closely examine the economics of the art and collectibles marketplace, from internal changes at the auction house to external changes in the global marketplace. In particular, the Note will examine the Asian marketplace, which has led the global expansion of art and collectibles, and the potential dangers of the …

July 2, 2017: Trinity Lutheran Church Case Shows There Is No Originalism, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Trinity Lutheran Church Case Shows There is no Originalism“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Scotus's 2016-17 Term: The Calm Before The Storm?, John M. Greabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] “The court's just-completed 2016-17 term contained no . . . blockbusters. Its highest profile ruling was an unsigned opinion that modified preliminary injunctions issued by lower courts to prevent President Donald Trump's "travel ban" orders from going into immediate effect.

But that ruling did not decide whether the president's orders are in fact unconstitutional. Instead, the court put that important question off until the fall, by which time further factual developments -for example, the executive branch completing its review and deciding to lift or modify the bans -may well render the issue moot.”

Big Brother Or Big Pharma: The Lion Fight Over The Surveillance And Promotion Of Pharmaceutical Use In America, Patrick Bailey

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.