Constitutional Law Commons^™

A Critical Reassessment Of The Case Law Bearing On Congress's Power To Restrict The Jurisdiction Of The Lower Federal Courts, Gordon G. Young

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Three Faces Of Federalism: Finding A Formula For The Future, Deborah J. Merritt

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first, and oldest, of the Supreme Court's concepts of federalism is the territorial model. This model recognizes that there is a discernible boundary between the subjects fit for national regulation and those reserved for state governance. Territorialists argue that the national government is supreme in some areas, while states reign sovereign in others. Adherents of this model, for example, might declare that the national government directs foreign affairs while the states control domestic relations.

Under the territorial model, federalism violations occur when the national government attempts to invade a substantive area of law reserved to the states. The Supreme …

Five Views Of Federalism: "Converse-1983" In Context, Akhil R. Amar

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1987, I published an overly long article in the Yale Law Journal entitled Of Sovereignty and Federalism. In it, I advanced a "converse-1983" model of federalism-a model that highlighted the ways in which state laws can provide remedies when federal officials violate federal constitutional rights. For example, prior to the 1971 landmark of Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Agents, citizens whose Fourth Amendment rights had been violated by federal officers had no clear federal cause of action; but state trespass law often provided a remedy, and enabled citizens to recover when their "persons, houses, papers, [or] effects" had been …

Regulation Of Water Use And Takings: A Growing Battlefield, Barton H. Thompson, Jr.

Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits? (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

43 pages.

Contains references.

The Regulatory Takings Doctrine: A Critical Overview, J. Peter Byrne

Regulatory Takings and Resources: What Are the Constitutional Limits? (Summer Conference, June 13-15)

15 pages.

Rehabilitating Federalism, Erwin Chemerinsky

Michigan Law Review

A Review of To Make a Nation: The Rediscovery of American Federalism by Samuel H. Beer

The Electoral College And The Constitution : The Case For Preserving Federalism, Robert M. Hardaway

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This study examines how the Electoral College actually works, how it is supposed to work, and how it might be reformed. Robert Hardaway first looks at the Constitutional Convention, the Twelfth Amendment, and historical elections where the Electoral College has come into play, providing the historical background to the present-day College.

Initiative Enigmas, Richard Collins

Publications

No abstract provided.

Federalist Society Roundtable Discussion, Timothy Dyk, Robert Bork, Nadine Strossen, John O. Mcginnis, Theodore B. Olson

Articles

This discussion took place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on October 12, 1993.

A Further Word Against Consensus, John O. Mcginnis

Articles

In their Response to my Essay, Professors Strauss and Sunstein not only take issue with a few of my arguments but also suggest a measure of consensus between their views and mine on the confirmation process.1 While I very much appreciate their proffer of half an olive branch, upon reflection I believe that the differences between us concerning the confirmation process remain very great and illustrate even more profound differences concerning the premises and structure of our republican Constitution.

Federalism, The Commerce Clause, And Equal Protection, Leon Friedman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Aspirational Constitution, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Firmly embedded in every theory of judicial decisionmaking lies an important set of assumptions about the way government is supposed to work. Sometimes these theories about government are made explicit. More often they are not. Moreover, deeply embedded in every theory of government is a theory of human nature. Although these assumptions about human nature generally remain latent within the larger theory, because they provide the underpinnings for our ideas about the way government is supposed to work, they drive our notions about judicial decisionmaking. For example, the theory of government reflected in the United States Constitution reveals what one …

The Failed Discourse Of State Constitutionalism, James A. Gardner

Michigan Law Review

In this article, I approach these questions in two steps. First, I examine the status of state constitutional law as it is practiced today. I conclude that, contrary to the claims of New Federalism, state constitutional law today is a vast wasteland of confusing, conflicting, and essentially unintelligible pronouncements. I argue that the fundamental defect responsible for this state of affairs is the failure of state courts to develop a coherent discourse of state constitutional law that is, a language in which it is possible for participants in the legal system to make intelligible claims about the meaning of state …

Devolution Or Deconstruction Czecho-Slovak Style, Eric Stein

Michigan Journal of International Law

This essay is a part of a broader study entitled "Post-communist Constitution-making: Confessions of a Comparatist" which focuses on Czechoslovakia.

"Reforming" Federal Habeas Corpus: The Cost Of Federalism; The Burden For Defense Counsel; And The Loss Of Innocence, J. Thomas Sullivan

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Institutional Factors In Protecting Individual Liberties, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

Questions about the efficacy of the Bill of Rights cry out for serious comparative legal scholarship. Robert Ellickson and Frank Easterbrook suggest that one might approach these questions by looking at different state constitutions. One might also look more seriously at the different constitutional regimes around the world, and try to draw some judgments about what impact, if any, different types of constitutional arrangements have on individual rights. We have heard expressions of skepticism about this approach, but there has been very little serious comparative scholarship by constitutional law scholars in this country. The scholarly tradition in America has been …

The Demise And Rise Of The Classical Paradigm In Canadian Federalism: Promoting Autonomy For The Provinces And The First Nations, Bruce Ryder

Articles & Book Chapters

The author explores the possibility of employing Canadian consitutional doctrine to develop a more flexible approach that would allow for greater provincial autonomy and First Nation self-government within the existing scheme of ss 91 and 92 jurisprudence. Canadian constitutional doctrine is first interpreted through the competing models of the classical and modem paradigms. The former emphasizes a sharp division of powers and has traditionally been used, the author argues, to invalidate legislation seen to interfere with the market economy. The modem paradigm, on the other hand, recognizes competing jurisdictions and has been used to uphold legislation focusing on morals. The …

The Constitutional Amending Process, A Paul Pross, Andy Anstett, Thomas Cromwell, A. Wayne Mackay, Dianne Pothier, Della Stanley

Dianne Pothier Collection

Since the failure to ratify the Meech Lake Accord in June 1990, the constitutional future of Canada has been the topic of increasingly urgent debate. So far, a consensus has emerged on two things. First, federalism as it is enshrined in the Constitution Acts of 1867 and 1982 no longer meets the needs and aspirations of the majority. Second, the means used in the past to achieve major constitutional revision are no longer acceptable to the majority of Canadians. Put simply, constitutional revision is essential if Canada is to survive and the means of achieving this revision must be more …

Pure Politics, Girardeau A. Spann

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this article considers the impact that judicial discretion has on the traditional model of judicial review, and that model's reliance on the Supreme Court as the primary guardian of minority interests. Part II argues that the interests of racial minorities can be better advanced through the ordinary political process than through the process of Supreme Court adjudication. Part Ill emphasizes that minority participation in Supreme Court proceedings cannot ultimately be avoided and, accordingly, suggests a political model of the Court that minorities can use in an effort to neutralize the Court's distortion of the political process. Part …

That Old Due Process Magic: Growth Control And The Federal Constitution, Keith R. Denny

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the interests of nonmunicipal federal citizens in being able freely to migrate about the nation are not adequately accounted for in a due process analysis which sanctions regulations with any, even a debatable, relation to the public welfare.

More adaptable and appropriate are the constitutional safeguards designed to protect the interests of nonmunicipal federal citizens: the privileges and immunities clause, the right of interstate travel, and the commerce clause. This Note concludes that GCOs should be measured against these safeguards and not the standards of the due process clause. When so reviewed, GCOs are found wanting. …

Board Of Trustees V. City Of Baltimore: Public Pension Fund Divestment Of South African Securities Upheld, Garrett M. Smith

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review, Richard B. Collins

Publications

No abstract provided.

Untangling The Market-Participant Exemption To The Dormant Commerce Clause, Dan T. Coenen

Michigan Law Review

This article explores the market-participant rule. Part I traces the rule's evolution and shows how it has proven less rigid than some initially feared. Part II probes the roots of the rule by challenging justifications for it suggested by other observers. Part III offers an alternative theory of the market-participant doctrine, arguing in particular that it rests on a cluster of rationales that properly have led· the Court to uphold marketplace preferences as the "general rule." Part IV builds on Part III to advance a new, four-part framework for evaluating market-participant issues. Part V then uses that framework to apply …

Untangling The Market-Participant Exemption To The Dormant Commerce Clause, Dan T. Coenen

Scholarly Works

This article focuses on an important vehicle through which the modern Court has moved to protect local prerogatives: the market-participant exemption to the dormant commerce clause. The core of the Court's dormant commerce clause jurisprudence is well-settled: "The commerce clause, by its own force, prohibits discrimination against interstate commerce, whatever its form or method...” Over the past two decades, however, the Court has lifted this prohibition when states act as "market participants" rather than as "market regulators." Invoking this distinction, the Court has shielded from commerce clause attack blatant favoritism of local interests when a state or municipality buys printing …

Principles, Politics, And Constitutional Law, Mark Tushnet

Michigan Law Review

The contrast in Senator Thurmond's performance in hearings concerning Judge Bork, whose nomination he supported, and Justice Marshall, whose nomination he opposed, suggests the apparently cynical view that one's position on the proper scope of senatorial inquiry during a nomination depends upon one's position on the merits of the nomination. Much has been written, usually provoked by controversial nominations, about the proper scope of senatorial inquiry. The press of immediate controversy, however, diverts attention from more fundamental issues about the nature of constitutional government, to which I devote this essay.

Sandra Day O’Connor, Abortion, And Compromise For The Court, Susan M. Halatyn

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Role Of State Supreme Courts In The New Judicial Federalism, Jonathan T. Foot

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Role of State Supreme Courts in the new Judicial Federalism by Susan P. Fino

Separation Of Powers And Federalism: Their Impact On Individual Liberty And The Functioning Of Our Government, Candace H. Beckett

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Stare Decisis And Constitutional Adjudication, Henry Paul Monaghan

Faculty Scholarship

Despite endless literature urging that constitutional adjudication be severed from explorations into the understandings at the creation of the Constitution, original understanding continues to play a prominent role in the Supreme Court's jurisprudence. For the Court, originalism seemingly provides a legitimate ground for decisionmaking; for the people, it provides assurances against judicial usurpation of power properly belonging to other branches of government, or retained by the people themselves.

But difficulties with originalism emerge once the existing constitutional order is actually examined. The Supreme Court's repeated invocations of the Framers' understanding notwithstanding, a significant portion of our constitutional order cannot reasonably …

Federalism, Separation Of Powers, And Individual Liberties, Dennis G. Lagory

Vanderbilt Law Review

In a world that the Framers hardly could have anticipated, the Constitution remains a singularly effective instrument for the pres- ervation of individual liberty. In its allocation of power between the states and the federal government, it provides Americans with multiple champions of their rights--the federal government, which protects a liberty that is constantly evolving to adapt traditional values to new realities, and the state governments, which protect the basic liberties to which mankind has always been entitled. In its allocation of power between the branches of the federal government, the Constitution provides us with a polity possessing powers adequate …