Constitutional Law Commons^™

Changed Science Writs And State Habeas Relief, Valena Beety

Articles by Maurer Faculty

For decades now, the 1996 federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) has limited the scope and influence of federal courts in post-conviction case review, forcing convicted individuals to rely instead on state habeas proceedings for conviction relief. Due in large part to the 2009 National Academy of Sciences Report, petitions for conviction relief increasingly include challenges to the government’s scientific evidence at trial. These petitions analyze that evidence by comparing the trial evidence to the advancement of scientific findings and scientific knowledge in the years since the trial. State habeas petitions thus provide an avenue for relief from …

The Broken Branch: Capitalism, The Constitution, And The Press, Luke Smith Morgan

Scholarly Works

The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees "freedom ...of the press," an explicit textual recognition of what the founding generation, informed by their immediate historical experience, frequently hailed as the most important political liberty-the "bulwark" upon which all other freedoms relied. From this fertile intellectual and legal soil, cultivated by generous subsidies, a thriving and vibrant institutional press emerged as an undeniable asset to American civil society.

Today, that press is dying. Industry revenues have declined by more than 70% in the last two decades, leaving tens of thousands of journalists without jobs and millions of Americans without meaningful access …

Families Belong Together: The Path To Family Sanctity In Public Housing, Mckayla Stokes

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

In its 2015 landmark civil rights decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court finally held that the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the United States Constitution guarantee same-sex couples’ marital equality. The Court’s unprecedented declaration that the right to marry is a fundamental right under the Due Process Clause strengthened married couples’ right to privacy because it subjects government actions infringing on marital unions to heightened scrutiny. The Supreme Court has the option to minimize the impact of Obergefell by interpreting the right to marriage very narrowly—as only encompassing the right to enter into a state-recognized union …

The Pursuit Of Comprehensive Education Funding Reform Via Litigation, Lisa Scruggs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Panel Discussion: The Right To Education: With Liberty, Justice, And Education For All?

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Ratification Of The Equal Rights Amendment: Lessons From Special Elections To The House Of Representatives In 1837, John Vlahoplus

Indiana Law Journal

In 1837 the House of Representatives considered a governor’s attempt to include a limitation in a writ issued to fill a vacancy in representation pursuant to Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution. The Representatives agreed almost unanimously that the limitation was unconstitutional and should be disregarded as mere surplusage rather than invalidating the writ and the election. This Article suggests that the similar Article V gives Congress only the power to propose amendments, without any limitation, and States the power to ratify amendments or not, without any power to rescind. Consequently, the time limit that Congress purported to impose …

Constitutionally Unaccountable: Privatized Immigration Detention, Danielle C. Jefferis

Indiana Law Journal

For-profit, civil immigration detention is one of this nation’s fastest growing industries. About two-thirds of the more than 50,000 people in the civil custody of federal immigration authorities find themselves at one point or another in a private, corporate-run prison that contracts with the federal government. Conditions of confinement in many of these facilities are dismal. Detainees have suffered from untreated medical conditions and endured months, in some cases years, of detention in environments that are unsafe and, at times, violent. Some have died. Yet, the spaces are largely unregulated. This Article exposes and examines the absence of a constitutional …

The “Step-Child Of Scholarly Investigation”: Preliminary Observations About The Origins Of Academic Jewish Law Scholarship, David Hollander

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Arms Dealer Who Cries, :“First Amendment”, Gustave Passanante

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fosta: A Necessary Step In Advancement Of The Women’S Rights Movement, Alexandra Sanchez

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Era: Digital Curtilage And Alexa-Enabled Smart Home Devices, Johanna Sanchez

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Conference: Commemorating The Life And Legacy Of Charles A. Reich, Rodger D. Citron

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Charles A. Reich’S Keeping Up: Walking With Justice Douglas, Rodger D. Citron

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Addiction And Expression, Luke Morgan

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Addictive products—such as tobacco, alcohol, and gambling—have been considered legitimate regulatory targets throughout American history and for thousands of years prior. Expressive products—such as newspapers, books, movies, and video games—have in the United States been considered essentially immune from content-based regulation, thanks to the First Amendment. But what if the content of an expressive product makes it addictive? Which tradition must give in: the ancient power of legislatures to protect society at large from the wideranging impacts of addiction, or the legal shield that has generated a thriving culture of artistic independence? This Article is the first to explore the …

Constitutional Discourse And The Rhetoric Of Treason, J. Richard Broughton

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

This Article asserts that treason talk is a form of constitutional discourse. Further, the Article explains that although treason remains a crime worth taking seriously in American criminal and constitutional law, colloquial invocations of treason have the potential to undermine treason’s seriousness and erode its constitutional and historical foundations, as well as diminish an appreciation of its limits. That is particularly true when treason is invoked by a sitting president, whose unique role in constitutional government—and potential to influence criminal prosecutions— requires special caution with respect to public rhetoric about treason. This Article then cites two specific and complicated areas …

The First Amendment And Modern Technology: The Free Speech Clause And Chatbot Speech, Hilda Kajbaf

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Our contemporary conversations with chatbots raise a constitutional question not previously considered: is the speech produced by chatbots constitutionally protected? If so, whose speech is the Constitution protecting—that of the chatbot or the human who programmed it with algorithms? If the Supreme Court recognizes the human programmer as the speaker of chatbot speech, as this Note contends it should, what are the potential liabilities the programmer could face as a result of such recognition, and how would this change the doctrinal landscape of the First Amendment for government regulation of speech? This Note proceeds in five parts. Section I defines …

"Assault Weapon" Lethality, E. Gregory Wallace

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Disappropriation, Matthew B. Lawrence

Faculty Articles

In recent years, Congress has repeatedly failed to appropriate funds necessary to honor legal commitments (or entitlements) that are themselves enacted in permanent law. The Appropriations Clause has forced the government to defy legislative command and break such commitments, with destructive results for recipients and the rule of law. This Article is the first to address this poorly understood phenomenon, which it labels a form of “disappropriation.”

The Article theorizes recent high-profile disappropriations as one probabilistic consequence of Congress’s decision to create permanent legislative payment commitments that the government cannot honor without periodic, temporary appropriations. Such partially temporary programs include …

Historical Foundations And Enduring Fundamentals Of American Religious Freedom, John Witte Jr.

Faculty Articles

For all of their failures and shortcomings, the eighteenth-century founders did indeed begin on the right “path” toward a free society, and today, Americans enjoy a good deal of religious, civil, and political freedom as a consequence. American principles of religious freedom have had a profound influence around the globe, and they now figure prominently in a number of national constitutions and international human rights instruments issued by political and religious bodies.

To be sure, as Adams predicted, there has always been a “glorious uncertainty of the law” of religious liberty and a noble diversity of understandings of its details. …

The Wealth Tax: Apportionment, Federalism, And Constitutionality, Alex Zhang

Faculty Articles

Proposals of wealth taxation as a mechanism to combat economic inequality and raise revenue for welfare programs have dominated recent political debate. Despite extensive academic commentary, questions surrounding the constitutionality of a wealth tax remain unresolved. Previous scholarly approaches have drawn a dichotomy between two key cases. Supporters of the wealth tax emphasize Hylton's functional rule for identifying direct taxes, which must be apportioned under the Constitution, and reject Pollock, which invalidated the federal income tax on the grounds that it was a direct tax. Opponents of the wealth tax, in contrast, argue that Pollock, rather than …

Foreword, Syndie G. E. Molina

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Ethical Considerations For Attorneys Researching Jurors On The Internet, Anthony M. Lapinta

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Police Brutality And State-Sanctioned Violence In 21st Century America, Itohen Ihaza

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Remorse, Not Race: Essence Of Parole Release?, Lovashni Khalikaprasad

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

From Common Law To Constitution, Sanctioned Dispossession And Subjugation Through Otherization And Discriminatory Classification, Mobolaji Oladeji

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Confessions, Convictions And Controversy: An Examination Of False Confessions Leading To Wrongful Convictions In The United States Throughout History, Kirandeep Kaur

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

As Pertains To The Criminal Justice System, Is Hindsight 20/20?, Syndie G. E. Molina, Cristina Negrillo

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

The Inconvenience Of Justice: How Unmitigated Official Misconduct Almost Destroyed The Lives Of Five Young Boys From Harlem, Stefania Bordone, David Wright

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

The Methodology Of Social Adaptation Following The Liberation Of A Wrongful Conviction, Ashantwa Jackman

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Up In The Air: Venue Must Remain Grounded In The Constitution, Jameson L. Gay

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.